Harry Potter & The Dragon Lord of Atlantis
by Funryuu Alexander
Summary: Starts the summer after Harry's 3rd year, AU. Harry make a new friend, and gains a different perspective on events in his life. No planned pairings yet. Some elements borrowed from D & D, and Star Wars.
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter & The Dragon-Lord of Atlantis

A fanfic by Alexander Funryuu

Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter. I wouldn't mind renting to buy Luna Lovegood or Tonks, though. I'd be willing to open negotiations for Cho or either of the Patil twins too. Not making a profit from this work. It is solely for the entertainment of myself and others. Alex and all other original characters are mine. All other borrowed ideas, characters or concepts are the property of their respective owners.

_'Thoughts'_

Signs

_This story starts the summer after Harry's 3rd year, slight AU. I'll be adding some of my own twists on how magic works. Once this story gets going, Harry will be powerful, but hopefully not a Super Harry. Enjoy the story!_

Harry had just been picked up by his Uncle Vernon at the station, and as he rode on his way home, he thought about his adventures during the past year, and his godfather, Sirius Black. Sirius, who had been locked in Azkaban prison for 12 years because he had been framed for the murder of Harry's parents, had managed to avoid being recaptured by the Ministry's prison guards, the Dementors, with the help of Harry, Hermione and a hippogriff by the name of Buckbeak. Harry was looking forward to a hopefully more pleasant summer, after he had mentioned Sirius to Vernon, and mentioned that the convicted murder was his godfather, and that he would be checking up on Harry to see how he was doing, terrifying his uncle.

As Vernon's car finally pulled up to the house at Number 4 Privet Drive, Both males noticed that there was a large moving van with a car trailer attached across the street at Number 3, where a motorcycle sat. In front of the house, stood a tall, muscular dark-skinned boy, who was telling the moving crew to take a cage into a certain room in the house, with a falcon inside of it. The boy noticed the two observing him, and waved, before picking up a box himself and heading into the house as one of the moving men came out. Another man, who could only be the boy's father judging by the resemblance to the boy in both appearance and build, pulled up in American Chevy Silverado pickup into the driveway and started unloading bags of food. The boy's father, was a _very_ large, muscular man. '_He looks like he could give Hagrid a run for his money in arm wrestling,' _Harry thought to himself. He then returned the wave and went inside his own house, while the new neighbors finished moving into the house across the street. Vernon, who had come in a bit before Harry, was asking about the new neighbors across the street, and Harry was just in time to hear her response as he was putting away his trunk & school things.

"Oh, the Portare-Tergums? There're a couple of Americans, Cecil, the father works for Interpol and was promoted and re-assigned to London. He and his son came over & introduced themselves earlier, asked for directions to the grocer's so they could stock their fridge, and about a gym."

"Oh? Odd name, Portare-Tergum. Very unusual name."

"Yes, odd. But still, he's a police inspector. It's just him and his son, apparently he's a widower."

"What about his son? He looks like some kind of athlete, maybe a boxer or rugby player."

"Alex played several sports back in America; kickboxing, fencing, and he's supposed to be a honor roll student as well. He also mentioned something about him playing an instrument or two."

"Hmm. His father must be proud of him. He almost sounds as good as our Dudders! Did he mention where young Alex will be going to school?"

"He said he was still researching schools, he wants to send his son off to another private school like he went to in America."

"Well Pet, they seem nice enough so far. perhaps tomorrow we should drop by & welcome them to the neighborhood."

"Perhaps. Now come on, we'll be having dinner soon. Dudley will be coming home tomorrow evening."

At that, Harry went up to his room to finish putting away his things and get back to grab something to eat, before everything was gone and Petunia refused to feed him. Afterwards, he went to bed.

The next day, after Harry was rudely awakened by his aunt's yells for him to get up and get started with breakfast, he went to wash up and get started with the food. After breakfast, Vernon left to go to work, and Harry was sent outside to do some gardening. As he worked on Petunia's roses, he heard two male voices, singing in cadence, and turned to see the Potares heading towards their house, wearing running shorts and shoes. It was obvious that the father-son duo had been working out early that morning, as both men were sweating. As the duo approached their own house, Alex noticed Harry and spoke to his father, who nodded and went to the house, while the younger jogged over to Harry.

"Hello, I'm Alexander Portare-Tergum, your new neighbor at Number 3. " He said as he extended his hand to Harry.

Harry shook his hand and responded, "I'm Harry, Harry Potter. Pleased to meet you Alexander."

Alex grinned back and replied, "Just call me Alex, Harry. Pleased to meet you..." Alex then noticed the distinctive scar on Harry's forehead. "Oh, you're THAT Harry Potter."

Harry raised an eyebrow at this and stepped slightly back, now slightly cautious. "What do you mean by that?" Alex looked around to make sure no one could overhear them, before replying.

"I mean that before we moved here, I read about you in a book on British magical history. I guess this means I'll be attending Hogwarts with you in the fall then." After a moment of thought, Alex asked, "So, what's Hogwarts house system like? I've read a few different things, and I'm curious."

The two boys spent a few more minutes talking over the weeding, as Alex got down and helped for a bit, before Harry said, "Well, I need to get back to work at this before I get myself in trouble. See you around." Alex nodded in reply, and jogged back across the street into his own house, to get showered and changed.

Shortly after Harry finished his outdoor chores in the garden, Vernon pulled up in the driveway, with Dudley in the car as well, causing the car to scrape the ground due to their combined weight. Vernon had Harry come out to bring in Dudley's things and a letter from Dudley's school. Unfortunately for the chunky child, the school nurse sent home notice that Dudley desperately needed to go on a diet and lose weight. Petunia decided that in order to show support for Dudley, everyone in the house would diet with Dudley.

The next morning when Harry arrived to the table, Petunia and the rest of the Dursleys were seated at the table, and Petunia was placing a quarter of unsweetened grapefruit on Dudley's plate, and then placed a much smaller piece on Harry's plate. '_Hmmph. She cuts back on my food, and gives the whale the bigger piece so he'll feel better, typical,_' Harry thought to himself.

Fortunately for Harry, he had a stockpile of food and snacks from his friends, delivered by Hedwig. He had a stash of meat pies and fruitcake (The Weasleys), sugar free candy (Hermione) and rock cakes (Hagrid) which he skipped over due to previous experience with the half-giants cooking. So Harry wasn't terribly upset by the diet plan. Just then, the doorbell rang, and Vernon got up to see who it was.

Back over at the Portare household, Alex was getting back from his morning workout when his father came in, with a pair of tickets. "Hey Alex, check out what I've got! Tickets to the Quidditch World Cup!" Alex did a double-take in surprise as he looked at the tickets, which were in a good section where the game would be held.

"Sweet! Thanks dad! I didn't know you were planning this! I thought you weren't that big into Wizard sports." Alex thought back to when his father had found out he had a magical child, not to mention that Cecil was a Squib himself. Cecil shrugged as he replied, "I'm not, but I know you'd kill for the chance to go. I was able to make the arrangement at Gringots." After giving his father a big hug, Alex went to go about the rest of his day while his father was at work.

At the Dursleys, it ended up being the postman, with a letter with a multitude of stamps all over it from the Weasley family, inviting Harry to go to the Quidditch World Cup. Vernon agreed to allow Harry to go, and after Harry had been picked up (and Dudley getting a prank candy from Fred & George), Harry was at the Burrow, where Ron and Hermione were waiting, along with Ginny, Bill, Percy and Charlie. After a bit of conversation between the group of friends, everyone eventually headed to bed, eagerly awaiting the next day, so they could go the World Cup.

Once Harry was with just the other kids, he grabbed Ron & Hermione. "Hey guys, I met someone interesting when I got back to my uncle's this summer. A new family just moved in across the street from us." he commented with a bit of excitement in his voice.

"Oh? What are they like?" Hermione asked. Ron grinned slightly as he commented, "Is one of them a girl you fancy, then?"

Harry snorted as he replied, "No, a couple of Americans actually. Guy named Alex and his dad. Alex will be attending Hogwarts with us this fall, apparently." Hermione raised an eyebrow as she asked, "How do you know?"

"He recognized me from his reading apparently. But he wasn't quite so hyper about it as someone else I know," Harry said with a teasing grin. Hermione blushed slightly, remembering when she first met Harry on the Hogwarts Express their first year. She smacked Harry arm. "Prat." She continued, "So what's he like?"

"Well, we've only had a chance to talk once so far, but he seems nice enough so far. I was out weeding my aunt's garden when he was on his way back from a run, and he stopped to talk with me for a bit and helped me while we talked."

"Well Harry, do you think he'll be sorted into Gryffindor, then? Seems like a nice bloke so far," Ron commented.

"I guess we'll find out when we get to Hogwarts, Ron. I'll be sure to introduce you guys to him when we get on the Express." Their talk finished, the young teens went to bed.

The next morning, after a somewhat frantic rush for everyone to get ready, Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys who were going to the World Cup by portkey were leaving the house to meet up with Amos & Cedric Diggory, who was waiting for them at the Portkey point. After a few minutes of searching, the group found the portkey, an old boot, and after they were all touching it, they were taken to the destination point, a deserted moor. The Ministry representative waiting there quickly told Mr. Weasley where to go to find his campsite, and the group headed off. Once they got to where they were supposed to go, they were greeted by the campsite manager, Mr. Roberts. With Harry's help, he paid the campsite manager and they headed off to their site.

As they walked, Harry saw that while some people had tried to make their tents Muggle-like, some other tents were so obviously magical that he wouldn't have been the slightest bit surprised that they looked suspicious to Muggles. After a bit more walking, the group found a site with WEEZLY on it, indicating their site. To Harry's surprise, next to their site, Alex and his father were finishing putting up their own tent. At least from looking at the outside, Alex's tent seemed completely Muggle. Harry called out as he was walking over, "Hey Alex! I didn't know you were coming to this!"

Alex turned to look in surprise, as smiled as he saw who had called him. "Hey Harry! Small world, eh? How's it going, man?" he said as he stood up from where he was and walked towards Harry. As he got close enough, he reached out and shook Harry hand, as he looked over at the rest of the group that was there. "Harry, friends of yours?"

Hermione and the Weasleys got their first look at Alex, who was wearing a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt with a skull & crossed sabers on it, declaring '_Surrender the Booty!__'_. After a round of introductions, Alex and his father helped the Weasleys set up their tent. Ron was the first to comment after they were done, saying "So you're coming to Hogwarts this fall. Do you know what house you want to be in? Gryffindor is the house for brave people, Ravenclaw is for people who like to study, Hugglepuff is known for loyalty. We're all Gryffindors. "

Alex shrugged. "I'm not sure myself. But I thought there were supposed to be four houses in Hogwarts. What about Slythern?"

Ron frowned. "Why you want to be a slimy snake? That's a house for Dark Wizards. Pretty much all of them are evil gits." Alex merely raised an eyebrow in response, as he considered how he could state his feelings with potentially alienating someone. '_If there's one thing that bugs the crap out of me, it's sterotyping people. But since I just got here, maybe there's something I'm missing that might explain that opinion.'_

"What makes you think that? If everyone who was in that house is a criminal or an evil person, wouldn't it make sense to ship them off to a reform school or something? From what I understand, there are important people in Britain in the government and other places who were in that House." Alex replied.

Ron replied, "There hasn't been a dark wizard alive in Britain that didn't come out of that house!" Hermione joined in the conversation at this point.

"Honestly Ron, not every Slythern is evil." She considered her dealings with Malfoy and his thugs, as well as Pansy, and added, "But I do have to admit, the ones we have dealt with the most often are arrogant pure-blood bullies." Alex had a look of thoughtful confusion on his face.

"Pure-blood? You mean there are people who take that blood purity nonsense stuff seriously nowadays?" the American boy commented. "Well, that's a definite difference between Brits and Americans. I highly doubt anyone would try to push that sort of agenda openly in the States. The last group of idiots that tried something like that during the time of your last Dark Lord got put down pretty quickly."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"Pretty much, once Voldemort-types start trying to operate openly, they were hunted down by lynch mobs and law enforcement. They ended up either in prison or body bags."

"So you're saying that there aren't bigots in American magical society? I find that a bit hard to swallow," Hermione commented with a frown.

"No, I'm saying that they don't exist in America, just that they've never been bold enough to do the things that your Death Eaters did. Wizards in America left Europe for reasons similar to the Mundanes. Heck the American Magical Constitution is almost the same as the Mundane or Muggle one, as you Brits would say. The few times it's happened in America, not only were Aurors hunting them, but the average Joe on the street was just as likely to hunt them too, once it was known who they were. At least in the Midwest and the West." On our side of the pond, the old families are more concerned with having strong magical children or rare magical talents. Marriage contracts are pretty rare, but I know of a few people that were offered them that were first-generation magic users because they were metamorphs or extraordinarily powerful."

After that, the conversation moved to less weighty subjects as the groups got campfires going and relaxed as they had breakfast before the game.

**Well, that's the end of the first chapter. Please read and review, constructive criticism to help me write better is greatly appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

Harry Potter & the Dragon-Lord of Atlantis

A fanfic by Alexander Funryuu

Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter. I wouldn't mind renting to buy Luna Lovegood or Tonks, though. I'd be willing to open negotiations for Cho or either of the Patil twins too. Not making a profit from this work. It is solely for the entertainment of myself and others. Alex and all other original characters are mine. All other borrowed ideas, characters or concepts are the property of their respective owners.

_'Thoughts'_

Signs

As the group of Quidditch fans sat down to breakfast, another person from the Ministry of Magic walked up to the group. Arthur hopped and greeted the man with a grin. "Ludo! The man of the moment himself! Over here!" Ludo Bagman, from the Department of Sport & Games, replied happily, "Hey there! Arthur, old man, what a day, eh? Perfect weather, with a cloudless night coming, and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements...not much for me to do!" In response to Ludo's throwing the gauntlet at the feet of Murphy, a group of officials ran by, heading towards a disturbance that was sending violet sparks twenty feet in the air.

Mr. Weasley introduced everyone in his group to Ludo, who in turn did a double take as he heard the name of the _Boy-Who-Lived_, and his eyes flicked towards the famous scar. Arthur then waved his hand towards Alex and his father. "And these are two newcomers to Britain from the colonies, Mr. Alexander Potare-Tergum and his father Cecil." Cecil, who had been sitting on the ground, stood up to greet the new arrival. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Bagman."Cecil said as he reached out and gave Ludo a firm handshake, which was repeated by Alex. Arthur continued, "Everyone, this is the guy that helped us get such good tickets-" Ludo waved it off with a grin as if to say 'no problem.'

Bagman asked Arthur with a grin, "Anyone fancy a bet of the match? I'm giving pretty good odds!" Arthur bet a galleon on Ireland to win, while Fred & George bet their savings on Ireland to win, but that the Bulgarian Seeker, Victor Krum, would catch the Snitch. After Ludo finished writing down the bets, the men's conversation turned to Bertha Jorkins, who had been missing for some time, and a mysterious event that was being organized to happen at Hogwarts.

As the Weasleys plus Harry & Hermione headed towards their seats in the top box, Alex and his father broke off to go to their own seats. "Hey, we'll see you guys down by the tents later Harry. Nice meeting you all." The group replied in the affirmative as the Potares vanished into the crowd (as well as one can when you were six foot three and your father stood six feet eleven inches feet tall.) After picking up a few trinkets & souvenirs, everyone went to their seats to see the game. After an entertaining beginning with the mascots from Bulgaria, a group of a hundred veela who inspired the men in the audience to do all sorts of silly things, who were followed by leprechauns for the Irish team, who threw leprechaun gold to rain on the audience, the teams came out and were introduced, then the game began.

The game ended with a win for the Irish team by ten, but Krum caught the Snitch. Also the two groups of mascot brawled on the field as well during the game. After Bagman was done announcing, he found Fred & George with huge grins waiting for their payout on the long odds bet they made. Afterwards, everyone began to disperse & head back towards their tents. The group soon found themselves back at their tent, with Alex and his father sitting outside theirs, gazing at the stars. "Hey guys," Alex said excitedly, "that was a good game! But I don't think anyone saw the end that happened coming, that's for sure!" The group then began to banter good-naturedly about the game until Ginny fell asleep with her hot cocca, spilling it. At that point, Mr. Weasley sent those who came with him to bed, while Alex & his father retired for the evening as well.

As the occupants of the tents went to sleep, they started to enjoy their dreams, until being rudely awakened by Mr. Weasley, in their tents, and the sounds of people screaming in fear in Alex's tent. Both groups exited their tents to see a group of masked & hooded wizards marching along as a group, occasionally blasting a tent aside, setting them on fire. Overhead, there were some people floating, while the marchers pointed and laughed at the struggling floaters.

Harry recognized them as the campsite manager and his family. Arthur quickly sent his children and their friends into the woods, while he, Charlie, Bill and Percy sprinted towards the marchers to help the Ministry personnel. "You kids stay put and I'll come get you once this is sorted out! **Stay together!**" It seemed that the crowd was making it hard for the Ministry workers to get through to the hooded & robed individuals in the middle. They also were afraid to cast anything that might cause the Muggle family to fall. Harry and the others headed into the woods to try to stay out of the trouble, while Alex and his father did the same, but went in a slightly different direction. Harry, Hermione & Ron ran because they were told to and Alex because he wasn't willing to risk his Squib father getting hurt if he was spotted by the masked wizards. As the group continued to move, Ron yelled out in pain. Hermione lit her wand to see and hear Ron comment about tripping over a tree root.

A drawling voice called out from behind them, "With feet that size, hard not to." Harry Hermione and Ron turned sharply to see Draco Malfoy standing alone, totally relaxed. Ron said something very rude that he would have never said in front of his parents. Draco's eyes glittered as he replied, "Language, Weasley. Shouldn't you be running along? You wouldn't want _her _spotted, would you?" Draco nodded at Hermione as a green explosion went off at the campsite.

Hermione defiantly replied, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"There're after _Muggles_, Granger. If you want to show off your knickers in midair, hang around...there're heading this way, and we can all get a laugh."

"She's a witch." Harry snarled out.

"If you think they can't spot a Mudblood, Potter, then stay where you are," Malfoy said with a malicious grin.

Meanwhile, Alex had grabbed his own father and started heading away from the trouble as well, both men wearing frowns. They both were more inclined to go start kicking ass & taking names, but since Cecil was a squib and Alex was underage, they decided that discretion was the better part of valor. Unfortunately, their plan didn't survive contact with the enemy, because as they were moving out, another, smaller group of masked & robed wizards saw the duo and moved to intercept them, still tossing out the occasional curse to damage more of the campgrounds.

"Where do you think you're going?" one the men called out, pointing at Cecil as the group blocked the Potare's way. "You and your mudblood son."

Both Potares frowned at this, knowing they were being insulted and wanting even more to open a can of whoop-ass on the bigoted wizards. Cecil stepped a bit closer as Alex slipped an empty butterbeer bottle into his father's hand, unnoticed by the wizards. "We're minding our own business, and we'd appreciate it if you'd stand aside and let us pass peacefully." As Cecil was talking, both he and Alex were slowly advancing on the wizards, to try to close the distance between them.

"Now, we can't let you miss out on the 'fun' that the other muggles are having...we think you should join them!" the apparent leader of the group of wizards said as he started to raise his wand. Fortunately for Cecil, his reflexes were faster, as he quickly threw the bottle at the wizard's hand, knocking the wand out of it as he closed with his chosen target and caught him with an uppercut that launched him into one of his friends with the _snap_ of a breaking jaw, knocking both men to the ground and knocking the man he had punched out like a light. "Stupefy," Cecil said with a victorious smirk.

Alex hadn't been idle during this time, either. As soon as his father had thrown the bottle, Alex shoulder slammed one of the men who was still standing in shock, and scooped up the wand that the leader had dropped and aimed it at the group. The group of bullies looked up to see Alex, his azure eyes darkening like a raging storm glaring at them as they felt the magic flowing off of him. As they looked at Alex, all of them felt a good deal of primal fear as they met his enraged gaze. Two of the men flat out fled, screaming in terror without even looking back, while the rest were very shaken up. _'What's with that kid? Something about him isn't right, there's no way a kid should have power or a presence like that.'_ "Leave. Now." Alex growled at them.

Surprisingly, with the exception of the wizard who had been laid out, all of them quickly did just that, deciding that they would prefer targets that didn't fight back as much. Cecil blinked at this, having expected a lot more of a fight. He looked over at his son. "Alex, what did you do? Did you cast something to make them freak out like that?" Alex shook his head, looking slightly confused himself. "Not a thing...it just looked as soon as they same me getting pissed off, they about pissed themselves."

Back over near Harry, Hermione had to quickly grab Ron, who was moving towards Draco to give him a knuckle sandwich. But his attempt was stopped by both Hermione grabbing Ron's arm, as well as a group of masked and robed wizards running towards and past them, almost knocking Draco over as they ran as if they were running for their lives from something. All four Hogwarts students looked in the direction that the men came from and saw Alex walking in their direction with a wand, with his father dragging another robed figure behind him by his robes.

Alex walked up to the group. "Excuse me; do you know where I could find an Auror? We'd like to drop off this trash," Alex said as he pointed a thumb as his father's unconscious prisoner. Draco decided to try to fish for information. "What happened to him?"

"Idiot tried to hex me and my dad with some of his friends to help him." Alex gave the figure a contemptuous glare as he twirled the man's wand in his hand as he started to wake up and look around groggily. Cecil looked down and switched his grip on the man.

The man slowly woke up, and briefly wondered where he was, before he felt himself lifted into the air by the neck and slammed against a tree one-handed by the Muggle he had planned to toy with. He looked around quickly for his wand, before Alex stepped into view holding it. "Looking for something?" "Give me back my wand, you filthy-" the man started to yell before Cecil tightened his grip, cutting off his air. "Now, now, that isn't very polite language, sir." Cecil said in a deceptively calm tone. "I'd suggest the next time you think you want to bother someone, you might not want to go and mistake a dragon for a defenseless sheep. Weaklings tend to get burned that way. I'd also make sure that you're actually dealing with a muggle before you call a person one."

Alex then stepped closer and whispered in the man's ear, "Disrespect my father again and I break your jaw...for starters," Alex added in a falsely sweet tone as he cracked his own knuckles with a malicious grin. The man turned pale and wet himself in terror, seeing that he had pissed off someone he shouldn't have. The kid was _**FAR**_ more frightening than his father. Cecil looked down at the growing puddle and frowned at his son as he loosened his grip so the man could breathe. "Was that really necessary, son? Now he's gone & made a mess on my boots."

Draco looked on and asked. "Excuse me, but who are you? I know or at least have seen most major Wizarding families in Britain." Alex turned and replied, "I'm Alexander Potare-Tergum, and this is my father Cecil. We're Americans, so that's probably why you don't know us. My dad's job transferred him to Britain, so I'll be transferring into Hogwarts this fall." Alex extended a hand towards Draco.

Draco's inner Slythern decided that if these newcomers were powerful enough to intimidate a group of wizards from them so easily, and have them wetting themselves with terror, Alex might be a potential ally or at least a useful lackey if he could sway him to see his own point of view. After a slight moment of hesitation, Draco took the hand and shook it. "Draco Malfoy. Pleased to meet you, Alexander."

Over in the Potter contingent, there was more than a bit of confusion at Draco's behavior. _'Draco's not normally that polite to anyone. What's his game?'_ was the general consensus among them. After the two boys released each other's hands, Alex asked, "So what color are the Auror's robes here in Britain? We'd like to turn this trash over so we can get on with the rest of our evening hopefully or at least recover our gear and leave."

"Aurors wear red robes here in Britain," Hermione informed Alex as she pointed out one heading towards the main disturbance. Cecil quickly set the man he had by the neck in front of him and gripped him by the back of his robes and growled out, "March. You and the Aurors need to have a bit of a chat, I think." Cecil quickly headed towards the Auror, shoving the wizard bully along in front of him. Alex said as he turned to leave, "Well, it was nice meeting you Draco. I guess I'll see you all on the Express in September, then." Alex then jogged off to catch up with his father.

Harry commented, "So you think that's your parents were some of the ones running, Malfoy?" Draco replied, "If they were Potter, I wouldn't be likely to tell you, would I. Besides, my father's no coward." Draco sneered at Hermione. "Just make sure you keep that big bushy head down, Granger."

Hermione dragged Harry and Ron off at that point, before the situation could re-escalate. As they left, they started talking about what they had seen. Ron frowned thoughtfully as he said, "What was Malfoy doing? He isn't nice to anyone who isn't what he considers a proper pureblood." Harry shrugged. "Beats me, mate. But considering a group of those thugs were running from his and his father, he might have thought that he didn't want to piss off someone that big." "Well, it's not like Malfoy knows Alex. He might be thinking of trying to get Alex to join his little group." Hermione added.

As the group continued to move looking for Ginny and the twins, Ron pulled out his wand and lit it up, looking up the path they were walking on. Harry went for his own wand, and realized that it was missing! The group began to look around on the ground, to see if they could find the wand, when they heard a shout of "MORSMORDE!" from the woods near them, and saw the Dark Mark floating up into the sky. All around them, the woods erupted with screams. Shortly afterwards, twenty wizards, including Mr. Weasley, appeared to see if they could catch whoever had cast the Mark. In the clearing where the Mark had come from, a house-elf named Winky was found, with Harry's wand. After a lot of yelling and thrown accusations, Winky was given clothes, freeing her, to her great sorrow.

Mr. Weasley took Harry and the others back to their tents, where the older Weasley boys were nursing various injuries. After everyone was patched up and Harry got a brief informational lecture on the Death Eaters, everyone went to bed.

After several unflattering articles in the _Daily Prophet_ about the MOM, courtesy of Rita Skeeter, the end of the summer arrived, and all the Hogwarts students in the Weasley household prepared to go to King's Cross to get on the Hogwarts Express the next day. The day before they were to leave to go to the station, the morning paper had an interesting article and covering the re-emergence of a thought to be extinct Ancient & Noble House of wizards, the Darastrix-Ux family. An artifact left in the vaults of Gringotts bank had reacted to the presence of a blood heir, according to the paper. There was no picture or identifying information, the paper citing that the goblins weren't revealing it per request of their client desiring privacy.

_**(FLASHBACK to yesterday)**_

Alex and his father had entered Diagon Alley, in order to exchange some money for Galleons for Alex to buy school supplies at the bank and a wand. Alex had done his own research and he knew that the American Ministry couldn't track his wand outside of the States, and he decided to get a wand in Britain rather than have more tracking charms added to his current wand, which was ironwood with powdered dragon fangs as the core. As Alex and his father entered the bank, a small rune started to glow at all of the teller's counters and in the office of Ragnok, the manager, indicating that someone had entered the bank that was an heir to a will that had been sitting in their possession for several hundred years.

He stood up and summoned a goblin. "Sharpfang, go down to vault number 7 and retrieve the scroll sitting next to an orb glowing with swirling colors that is sitting on a pedestal. I'll be in the lobby." The goblin nodded and quickly went to carry out the order, as the manager drew a slender crystal rod that was glowing and pulsing slightly. "Now, let us go and see this new heir, so that we can finally take care of this contract." With that, the goblin left his office and headed out to locate the missing heir.

Inside the bank, Alex and his father were standing in line, waiting in line to exchange some money and set up a vault for Alex, when Ragnok, accompanied by a pair of security goblins, walked by, an odd rod pulsing faster and faster as the group of Goblins neared Alex. Once the manager was standing next to Alex and his father, the rod stopped pulsing with light and held a steady glow and let out a pleasant chime. Alex looked at the goblin oddly, as being suddenly approached by the large Security Goblins was somewhat unnerving. "Can I do something for you, sir?"

"No, young sir, I am here to do something for you. Would you please follow me? It seems that one of your ancestors left something here for a descendant." Both Potares followed the goblins to a conference room, where the goblin that had been sent to the vault was waiting. Once everyone was inside, one of the Security Goblins closed the door and everyone sat down. Ragnok looked over at the two.

"Gentlemen, I am Ragnok, the branch manager here at Gringotts. We believe that you have ancestors that banked here, and that you," the goblin pointed at Alex," will inherit some things that have been sitting in the vaults here for several centuries. Please take this." With that, the runner handed Alex a scroll, which glowed with light that swirled around, before flowing into Alex and leaving a platinum ring on his finger, with an engraved dragon on it. The goblin manager grinned at this. "Excellent! Let it never be said that the Goblin Nation won't go whatever it can to fulfill a contract. Now we need you both to sign some paperwork, since young Alex here can't fully access the inheritance." Alex asked, "So what's my new total net worth then?"

"You have a total of 180 million galleons in liquid assets, and another 500 million in properties, mostly platinum and adamantine mines. But neither you nor your appointed trustee will be able to sell anything until he reaches the age of majority or is emancipated. Once he does, he will receive the title of Lord Darastrix-Ux and can do as he wishes. But the will does allow for a trust vault to be set up for the young Alex's education and some personal expenses, as well as an allowance for you, Mr. Potare. "

_'I already have a decent horde to start with! Hmm... Lots of gold & gems to sleep on...sounds nice,'_ Alex thought to himself for a moment, before shaking his head. _'Where did __**THAT THOUGHT**__ come from?!' _The duo of humans looked at each other and Alex asked, "Why would I get the title? My dad is the older of the two of us." "Because he is a Squib, he cannot take the lordship. To have activated the contract takes a minimum amount of magical power which he doesn't have. You, on the other hand, are powerful enough, and I suspect you will only grow stronger with time. Your father can be your trustee if you desire." Alex nodded in agreement. "Of course, the Ministry will be informed that one of the Noble houses has returned, so that you may take your family seat in the Wizengamot." Cecil thought for a few moments over this new wrinkle. "Ragnok, I would not like to have all that media attention on my son. Could you assist us in hiring a barrister to sit in our position? I've read up a bit on Wizarding customs, and I'd rather not risk having my son hounded by reporters and such." _'Nor any marriage contracts,' _he added mentally.

After filling out several forms and requesting that the bank not release their names to the press, both men went with the runner to the carts, to see the vault they had inherited. Once they arrived, the goblin walked up to the vault and opened it, before handing Alex the key. "When you are done, I will be at the cart waiting to take you back." Both Potares walked into the vault. While Cecil was looking around at the money and some of the items, Alex felt a strange compulsion to go to the orb that was on a pedestal, glowing brightly. As he approached it, the orb lifted itself into the air and floated to Alex's hands, which stretched out to receive it. As the orb settled in Alex's hands, it let off a bright flash.

_(Inside Alex's mind)_

Alex found himself standing in what appeared to be a throne room, with a huge dragon, with silvery scales that shone and shimmered, looking down at him with a smile. Alex was starting to freak out, thinking he was on the menu, when the dragon began to speak.

_"Greetings, young Alex, heir to Atlantis. I am Frostbite, one of your ancestors." The dragon shrank down and changed, until he was in a human form. "Young one, I see the dragon within you is strong. You have been channeling a little of it for a long time, from your perspective. But at the Quidditch match, it seems the dragon within you has begun to awaken. You were able to awaken your draconic presence to terrify your foes."_

_"What do you mean?" Alex thought to himself, "You mean that the weird thoughts about sleeping on treasure and building a horde was normal?!"_

_"For a true dragon, yes. Besides, didn't you ever wonder why Ramses was so fond of you right off the bat? The Muggle fables about dragons having treasure have some basis in fact. Also the fact that you were able to utterly terrify your enemies with such ease, and the fact that you did not immediately panic at the sight of me. Now young dragon, you will need to study here, to be able to control your inner dragon, and control your transformation. The passions of a dragon run strong, and there are few things more dangerous than an angry dragon. Otherwise, you may expose yourself to quite a lot of trouble. You have a destiny ahead of you, to assist the Chosen One in the fight against the Dark, and to restore Atlantis to her former glory._

_"Are you telling me I've been a dragon all these years?! And what kind of dragon are you, anyway? I've never seen any dragon that looked quite like you in any book in the magical world. You more like a dragon from a Muggle role-playing game."_

_"No, you are a human with an animagus form of a Spell Dragon, the same as mine. Or you could be a dragon with the animagus form of a human. Depends on your viewpoint, I guess. Most of what the wizards call 'dragons' are mere drakes. The Muggles were closer to the truth of the nature of true dragons, both the good and the evil. All of us were native to Atlantis, and we mostly choose to blend in with humanity, because they are such interesting creatures. But a grand magical experiment that the High Council was conducting went tragically wrong, and Atlantis was phased out of sync with the rest of the world. Now come, young one, you have much to learn and I have much to teach you, before you can go back. And don't worry about the time, as here in the mindscape, we can take months or years of time, for only seconds to pass in the real world. I will be training you in your dreams." With that, the duo retired to the library, which suddenly appeared around them, and Frostbite began to teach Alex about Atlantian culture, his transformations, and the beginnings of the lost art of Atlantian magic._

Back in the real world, the flash died down and Alex sat the orb back on the pedestal. Next to his feet, a pack appeared, with several books in it and one next to it. With that done, Alex walked out towards the cart, where his father was about to call for him. "Let's go, Alex. We still have shopping to do, and I have to get back to start researching a case I got the other day." With that, the duo got into their cart and left for the surface, and then went to do their shopping.

_**(END FLASHBACK)**_

Alex had gotten to the station early, and was currently sitting in a car with his familiar Ramses, a small pseudodragon, and two Slytherin students, Daphne Greenglass and Tracy Davis. Both girls looked at Alex for a moment, as he was sitting in their usual compartment, and did a double-take at the sight of a small creature on his shoulder, with green scales, a long talk and wings that looked like a miniature dragon. Tracy asked as she pointed at the creature, "You a have a DRAGON as a pet?! That's dangerous! He'll get bigger and cause all sorts of problems"

Ramses snorted, before Alex responded, "He's a pseudodragon, it's not like he has a breath weapon, and he won't get much bigger than a housecat. His name is Ramses, and I'm Alex. I'm a transfer student from the States." he said he stood for the ladies. They saw Alex had a case next to himself on the floor by his feet. The blond introduced herself as she looked up at the much taller boy, "I'm Daphne Greenglass, and this is my friend Tracy Davis. What's that?" she asked as she pointed at the case. He pulled out his electric guitar from the case, which was black and a deep green, with silver highlights and charmed to work in magical areas. The girls looked at the guitar and smiled slightly. "Are you going to play something?"

Alex gave the girls a sly grin. "Yeah, I'll play a little something." Alex picked out his guitar pick, and after a moment of thought, started to play.

Meanwhile, Harry and his friends had arrived at Kings Cross and were on the train in a compartment chatting, when Harry suddenly said, "I wonder where Alex is? He was supposed to be on the Express today."

As if in answer to his question, everyone on the train heard the distinctive sound of a guitar playing on the train. Harry looked down the hall to see several students poking their heads out, while a few others were already heading towards a where they heard the music coming from. Harry got up to investigate, along with Draco and a few other students, to find a grinning pair of girls listening to Alex playing what the muggleborn students might have recognized as AC/DC's _Let There Be Rock._ Several of the students were bobbing their heads and smiling as they listened to the impromptu jam session. Most of the crowd stood around to hear the impromptu concert being given.

Harry walked into the compartment as Alex was ending the song and commented as Alex finished, "Hey Alex! I didn't see you earlier." Harry then noticed the small dragon on Alex's shoulder. "You have a DRAGON?!" Alex smirked. "You'll find I'm full of surprises, Harry. Don't suppose you play anything, do you?" Harry shook his head in the negative. "Rats, I was looking for a drummer," Alex commented.

After Harry and his friends left to go back to their compartment, Draco and his cronies came over. Draco was rather surprised at the fact that Alex had so many muggle-looking items, as well as muggle clothing. "Say Potare, are your parents wizards?" "No, my dad's a Squib. Mom was a muggle as far as I know. She died when I was ten. Any particular reason you asked?" Draco was taken slightly aback at this. On one hand, Alex wasn't a pureblood wizard, as he had a muggle and a squib for parents. But on the other hand, he had seen firsthand a small demonstration of how scarily powerful Alex was at the Quidditch World Cup. Deciding on discretion being the wiser course of action, he asked, "So, do you have any idea what House you want to be sorted into?"

Alex shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I just know I have certain goals I intend to reach, and I have to put in the work and time to get the power I need to achieve those goals. I'll probably end up in whatever house will best help me increase my knowledge and power the most." Draco smiled at this. "Well, Slytherin is the best House for you to do that. Ambition and cunning are the trademarks of the House."

Alex nodded. "Well, perhaps I will be."

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

Pseudodragon: A small dragon, with fine scales and sharp horns & teeth and human level intelligence. It has a barbed tail with a knockout poison, and wings. They have cat-like personalities, and can communicate telepathically with their bonded companions. They are also capable of learning some magic on their own.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry Potter & the Dragon-Lord of Atlantis

A fanfic by Alexander Funryuu

Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter.

AN: Just a bit more information on dragons like the Spell dragons, versus something like a Welsh Green or Horntail. Spell dragon look at Fireballs, Horntails, etc. as drakes, or lesser dragons. All varieties of Spell Dragons, as their name would suggest, can cast spells without wands, and are at least as smart as a human. Most of them resided on Atlantis before it was lost. Forgive the occasional music bits, I blame too many hours of playing _Rock Band_ 2 & _Guitar Hero_. As always, constructive reviews are appreciated.

Signs

_TITLES_

**Chapter 3**

At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, Headmaster Dumbledore was looking over the _Daily Prophet _from a couple of days ago as he sat at his desk, open to the article about the House of Darastrix-Ux having an heir. He was rubbing his fingers through his beard, deep in thought over the article he had read about the heir of the Darastrix-Ux family being found, as well as what one of his contacts within Gringotts had told him about the new Lord likely either being a new student, or the father of one of his new students. "Hmm...this is interesting...and potentially useful. If this new Lord could be convinced to support the side of the Light, he could help to sway votes in the government, as well as help fund the war against Voldemort." He popped a lemon drop into his mouth. "I do believe I'll take a closer look at some of the records...perhaps some clue is there to help me figure out this puzzle."

He walked over to his bookshelf and pulled down a book titled _Stories and Legends of Atlantis._ He thumbed through the book and noted the Darastrix-Ux family was the last family to rule the island before it vanished several centuries ago, before the time of the Founders, and that the wizards of Atlantis had been known for an odd affinity with dragons and some unusual, though extremely potent magic that had been slowly lost over the centuries, finally vanishing when the last known descendant of Atlantis, a reclusive Wizarding painter by the name of Benjamin, was killed during the war with Grindlewald by Grindlewald himself, for refusing to give the former Dark Lord the family spellbooks or teaching Grindlewald's forces the potent Atlantian magic, after the loss of several of his lieutenants at the hand of Benjamin.

In Malfoy Manor, Lucius Malfoy was oddly enough, in his study going through a similar thought process as Dumbledore and was reading his own copy of the same book Dumbledore was. "Well, I'm certain Draco will be able to figure out who this new player in the game is, and hopefully make some inroads with him. If this new heir can access the same types of magic his ancestors could, he could be a very useful asset to have available." With that, Lucius continued to plan, as he continued his research.

Meanwhile, on the Hogwarts Express, after Alex played a few more songs, he sat back to take a break and buy a few snacks from the cart as it came around. Once he stopped, the crowd that had been listening slowly began to disperse. Tracy and Daphne decided to get some more information on the new boy. "So where are you from, and what made you transfer into Hogwarts?" Daphne asked as she started the questioning. Alex sat back before replying. "Well, I'm from the U.S. I transferred into Hogwarts because my dad's job transferred him to England." Tracy jumped in asking, "So what kinds of things do you like to do? Other than music. What do your parents do for a living? Are they magical?"

"Well, I like fencing, kickboxing, paintball, and American football. My dad is a inspector for Interpol, and when my mom was alive, she was a music teacher." Alex smiled briefly at the memories of his mother teaching him to ply several instruments. "Dad's a squib and my mom was non-magical." Alex replied. The three students continued to exchange small talk for roughly another half-hour.

Soon, the announcement that the train was approaching Hogsmeade Station played over the speakers, and everyone started getting changed so that they would be ready when they arrived. Alex stood up after packing up his guitar and drums, before looking over to Daphne & Tracy as he stood up to leave. "You ladies go ahead and get changed first, I'll be back in a few minutes." With that, Alex stood up and left the compartment after that, Ramses following him. As soon as the door closed, the two girls started changing, as they changed, they discussed Alex.

"Well, what do you think of him?" Daphne asked as she slipped off her shirt and skirt to change into her Hogwarts uniform. "Tall, dark and handsome...and he seems like he's a nice guy. I wonder what house he'll end up in. He seems to know Potter pretty well."

Tracey grinned slightly. "Definitely cute...I hope he doesn't end up being a Griff. That would be such a waste." At Daphne's odd look, Tracy added, "Well, it would be nice to have another boy in Slytheirn that's not an evil git, or an idiot." Daphne nodded at that as she and Tracy finished changing. "You do have a point there." The two girls heard a knock on their compartment door. "Are you two done? I need to change too." Tracy opened the door for Alex, so he could enter. As soon as Alex entered, the conductor came back on, announcing that they would be arriving in ten minutes. Alex quickly pulled down a shirt and his school robes to change into from his trunk, and he pulled off the shirt he had on, leaving him bare-chested as he ignored the presence of both girls in his rush to get ready. The girls grinned as they got a good look at Alex's well-muscled torso as he put on his shirt & tie. He turned just in time to see a slight blush on the faces of both girls.

_"Muggle sports do a body good,"_ Daphne thought as looked over Alex. _"Mmmm...beefy, and seems to be smart too,"_ was Tracy's thought. Soon the train was stopping, and everyone was getting off to go to the castle.

After all the students entered the castle and the Sorting Hat sang it's song, the sorting started. The sorting went as usual, until all the first years were sorted. At that point, Headmaster Dumbledore stood up to speak. "Greetings! We have a new student joining us from America for his fourth year. Please make him feel welcome." Professor McGognall then called out the new student's name.

"Potare-Tergum, Alexander!" Alex stood up and walked over to the stool where the Sorting Hat was and put it on. The Hat took a few moments to search through Alex's surface memories. Alex was shocked as he felt the hat starting to scan his mind.

_**"What the heck?!?! What are you doing?"**_

_**"Just looking to see what House you will do best in, as soon as you let down your shields. Oh, and don't worry, I am magically bound not to reveal anything I learn from the scan, Lord Darastrix-Ux."**_

_**"Ok...I don't want that getting out right off the bat...I'm not ready to get caught up in the politics here in Britain yet."**_

'_**Hmm...interesting, Mr. Potare-Tergum. Fearless, very ambitious & sly when you need to be, loyal to your friends, and you have a quick mind. Willing to defend those who need it, but ruthless to those you consider enemies. I see you thirst for knowledge, and work hard to find it. Now, where to place a young warrior like yourself...?'**_

_**"You can just shorten my last name to Potare. Or better yet, just call me Alex. Do I get a choice?" **_

_**'**__**Yes you have a choice!'**__** the hat said eagerly, it was happy talking to this strange boy. The hat continued speaking. **__**'What most students think is they have no choice, afraid to ask, afraid to be different, and just let themselves be conformed to standards of society. You however are different, and you have so much power! I shudder to think about what will happen to your enemies. So why is it that you went to Hogwarts Mr. Potare?'**_

_**'**__**I came here because I felt my destiny and purpose lies here. Besides, with my dad's job moving him to England, coming here was easier.'**__** Alex replied, not sure where this was going.**_

_**'**__**And what is your purpose?'**__** the hat asked curiously.**_

_**'**__**My purpose is to bring justice to those who deserve it. To protect the innocent and give the wicked reason to feel fear.'**_

'_**Very well Mr. Potare, but I warn you now, that the path you walk will seriously tempt you. To either abuse that power, or to use it wisely is up to you.'**__** It said seriously. **__**'You like to brood, and to think. You can be ruthless when needed, but very affectionate and protective to your loved ones. You have an analytical keen mind, Alex. **__**The Hat noted a few more things about Alex like his love of music and competition. As the Hat looked around, it saw that some memories were shielded, so it then tried to look deeper into Alex's memories, to see what was behind the blocks. As the Hat approached the protected memories, it was very surprised to suddenly come face to face with a large silver dragon, which was giving it an annoyed glare as a puff of frost escaped from its nose.**_

_** "Ummn...Mr. Potare? Could you ask your dragon not to fry me? It will make the rest of the sorting difficult if I get flash-frozen."**_

_**"Just leave that area be, and you'll be fine."**_

_**"Well, after seeing that impressive defender, you"**_ BETTER BE RAVENCLAW!!!" the Sorting Hat yelled out, before Alex took the hat off. The Ravenclaw table cheered, before Alex came over to sit with them, sitting between next to Luna Lovegood. The third-year student looked over at Alex and even sniffed him slightly, before saying, "Nice spring rain scent....Oh, hello. You wouldn't happen to have seen a Shield-Crested Ice Lizard, would you? You smell like you've been near one recently. If you have, I'd like to interview him. My daddy owns the Quibbler."

"Umm...I can't say that I have. If I do, I'll let you know so you can talk to him." Alex commented with a raised eyebrow his only outward reaction. Inside, he was rather shocked. _'How in the heck could she be able to know that?!?'_ he thought as her description represented his dragon ancestor perfectly.

Over at the Gryffindor table, Harry and his friends were surprised and a little disappointed, as they were hoping Alex would be in their House. Ron shook his head. "Well, that's too bad. I was thinking he'd be a Gryffindor for sure, after that display at the World Cup. He's going to get turned into a bloody bookworm now." Hermione and Harry both gave Ron a slightly disbelieving look.

Hermione added with a glare at Ron, "You shouldn't be so narrow-minded, Ron. And what's wrong with liking to read?"

At the Head Table, Headmaster Dumbledore stood up, and smiled to all the students as spread his arms in welcome. "I have only two words for you all. TUCK IN!" With that, food magically appeared on all the tables and everyone started eating. Once everyone had finished eating their fill, Dumbledore stood up again.

"Now that we're all fed and watered, I have a few notices to give you all, so please give me your attention for a few moments. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked that you be formed that the list of forbidden object has expanded this year, and includes Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list can be found on the door to his office, if you would acre to check." The old man's lips twitched upwards slightly. "As always, the Forbidden Forest is off limits. It is also my unfortunate duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year." All over the Great Hall, people were in angry shock, and whispers were starting before the Headmaster continued. This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing through the school year. It will take a great deal of the teacher's time & energy, but I'm certain you will all enjoy it. It is my pleasure to announce this year at Hogwarts--"

At that moment, there was a deafening roar of thunder and the doors of the Great Hall banged open.

A man stood there, leaning on a long staff and shrouded in a black traveling cloak. The man started walking into the Hall, a dull _clank_ echoing with every other step as he limped towards the head table and Dumbledore. Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling, and several students gasped. The man's face was heavily scarred, and one eye was a bright electric blue, whizzing all around in the man's head, independent of the normal-looking eye. After he reached Dumbledore, the two men shook hands and whispered to one another for a few moments, before the man sat at the empty seat at the head table, where food appeared in front of him so he could eat.

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody." Dumbledore said into the silence that had erupted upon Moody's entrance. Everyone other than Dumbledore and Hagrid, both of whom were clapping, was busy staring at Moody's bizarre appearance.

There were whispers all over the Great Hall from the students, before Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued.

"As I was saying, we are hosting a very exciting event that has not been held for over a century. It is my pleasure to announce the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year!" Dumbledore gave a brief history of the Tournment, including the fact that it had been discontinued due to the death toll over the years. "The two other schools competing, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, will be arriving with their short listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will be on Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard CUp, the glory of their school, and 1000 Galleons personal prize money."

"I'm going for it!" Fred & George Weasley hissed down the table. All around, students were visualizing themselves as the Hogwarts champion, and all the glory and riches that went with it. At every table, Harry could see people gazing raptly at Dumbledore, or else whispering fervently to their neighbors. But Dumbledore started to speak again, and everyone quieted.

"I know all of you are eager to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," he said, "but the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only those seventeen or older will be allowed to put their names forth for consideration. This--" Dumbledore raised his voice slightly, for there were several outraged noises at those words, "is a measure we feel is necessary, given the difficulty of the tasks for the tournament are such that it is doubtful any student below sixth year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be making sure that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts Champion." His eyes twinkled at the mutinous faces of the Weasley twins. "I therefore ask that you don't waste your time submitting yourself if you are underage.

Once the delegations from the other schools arrive, they will remain with us for the greater part of the school year. I know you will all extend every courtesy to our guests while they are with us, and give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. Now it's late, and you need to be rested for your lessons tomorrow. Bedtime, all! Chop chop!" With that, there was a lot of scraping sounds, as students started heading out of the Great Hall to their dorms. Alex passed Harry and the others and said with a grin, "See you guys in class tomorrow?" They nodded in his direction, and everyone went their separate ways to their House areas.

Alex followed the Ravenclaw students to their tower, where a prefect pointed out where Alex's room was. Alex went into the common room and kicked back for a few moments with his feet on an ottoman and Ramses on his shoulder, before a pair of boys walked into the room. One boy walked forward and said as he crossed his arms, "Welcome to Ravenclaw, newbie."

Alex looked over at the boys and raised an eyebrow at the group as he observed them for a moment. '_Wonder what this is about?' _Alex sat up and allowed his feet to swing down to the floor, before standing. "Thanks. What can I do for you gents?"

The boy closest to Alex, said, "We figured since you're new, we should let you know a few of the less formal rules of the House and the school. The name's Michael Conner. This is Terry Boot, and we're your other roommates." The boys each extended his hand, and Alex gripped them and gave them a firm shake. "Alexander Potare-Tergum." Michael looked up at Alex, before continuing. "Well, I'd just like to welcome you to Ravenclaw." The boy looked Alex over for a moment, before asking, "You don't snore or anything like that, do you?"

Alex chuckled. "No, no snoring. Ramses and I do like to play music to wind down before bed, though." At hearing his name, Ramses lifted his head slightly and waved at the boys lazily, before curing back up.

At that point, Filius FItwick walked up to Alex and stated, "Mr. Potare, please come to my office. I like to have a introductory meeting with my new students." Alex nodded. "Of course, Professor." With that, the two of them left the common room, Alex carrying Ramses on his shoulder, and went to Professor FItwick's office. Once inside, the Charms Master closed the door and indicated for Alex to be seated, and sat down himself. Alex noted that half of the room was scaled to the tiny professor's size, while the rest was for most other people.

"Mr. Potare, I would like to welcome you to Hogwarts. I am your Head of House, Professor Fitwick." At that point, he extended his hand for Alex to shake, which he did, taking it in a firm grip. "If you have any questions or problems, please bring them to one of the Prefects or myself. I am your advocate in this school if you have a problem. I'm sure that your housemates have told you the basics of how things are done in Ravenclaw House." Fitwick looked over copies of Alex's transcripts from his previous school, taking particular note of his high grades in DADA, Arithmancy and Charms. "I see that you have a habit of academic excellence, and I expect it to continue here." He saw one entry that puzzled him slightly. "You participated in dueling and fencing clubs?"

"Yes, sir. I am considering going into professional dueling or bounty hunting when I graduate." Alex replied. "Nothing like the thrill of competition to get the blood pumping." FItwick smiled brightly at this. "Well, if would like any help with anything while you're here, please let me know."

Alex smiled at this. "I heard that you used to be a dueling champion, sir. If that's right, some extra training with my dueling would be greatly appreciated."

"Well, that is interesting. I'm eager to see what you can do in DADA. And I'll be happy to help you train." Fitwick said. He took another look at Alex, and finally noticed Ramses. "Mr. Potare, only owls, cats, rats, toads or ravens are allowed as pets. I'm afraid you'll have to send your pet home, because he may decide to eat someone else's pet. Although I am curious how you got a pseudodragon as a pet."

Alex frowned slightly, before replying. "I'm sorry sir, but according to _Hogwarts, a history__, _that rule doesn't apply to bonded familiars. He's been with me since I was nine." Professor Snape was getting annoyed at this, not used to being defied by a student.

"He's your familiar, you say? Then let me check. FAMILIIAR REVEALUM!" Fitwick cast a spell looking for the bond, and much to his surprise, found a very strong familiar bond between the boy and the dragon. "Well, I still have to inform the Headmaster. Where are you keeping him?"

"No, he stays with me in my room, unless he's delivering something for me. Ramses nodded in agreement, and made a few sounds that almost sounded familiar to the professor, but he couldn't place it. "Ramses said that he knows not to eat any pets here, sir." Alex stated to Fitwick. Fitwick was surprised at this, until he remembered that with the more intelligent magical familiars, some of them actually could communicate with their masters directly, and pseudodragons were rumored to be nearly as clever as people. Snape looked up at a clock and stood as he said, "Well, it's off to bed with you Mr. Potare. I'll see you in class." He dismissed Alex, who went to his room to get some sleep for the next day.

Early the next morning, Alex woke up and slipped out of his bed and after using the bathroom, got dressed in workout clothing and running shoes while most students were still asleep to go and do his morning workout. He headed outside and after doing some warm-up stretches, took off at a fairly quick pace to run around the lake for his morning workout. Once he did a lap (which was about 3.5 miles), he came back towards the castle to do calisthenics and a few _kata_ to round out his workout before heading back into the castle.

Several of the early bird students, as well as the professors, saw Alex coming in, sweaty from his workout and heading to the dungeons. He recieved a few odd looks, but no one stopped him, although several of the female students gave him an appreciative look-over as he went by. Once he got back, he was just in time to catch a quick shower and get dressed before heading to breakfast.

Everyone got their course schedules that morning at breakfast. Over at the Gryffindor table, Ron, Harry and Hermione were going over their course schedules.

"Today's pretty good...we'll be outside all morning. Herbology with the Hugglepuffs, and Care of Magical Creatures....damn it, we still have the bloody snakes with us."

"Double Divination this afternoon," Harry groaned. Divination was his least favorite subject next to Potions. Of course, having the Professor continually predicting your death would be found annoying to most people.

"You should have given it up and taken something sensible, like Ancient Runes or Artithmancy," Hermione said as she buttered some toast.

At the Ravenclaw table, Alex was sitting next to Luna and Terry, looking over his own schedule. "Hmm...Ancient Runes, then Charms this morning, then double Herbology." Terry looked over at Alex and asked, "What were you doing this morning that made you get up so early?"

"Morning workout. I have to stay in shape if I don't want to lose my edge & keep up my skills." The group finished breakfast and went to their classes for the day.

The rest of the day passed mostly without event, except for Harry and Draco getting into an arguement, which ended with Draco trying to curse Harry in the back. But he just barely missed, and Professor Moody turned Draco into a white ferret, and started bouncing him off the ground. This earned Malfoy a new nickname of 'the amazing bouncing ferret' from Ron.

Later on that evening after dinner, Alex was out with Ramses and a small case, which contained several shrunken musical instruments. He had found an unused classroom on Monday, and he was planning on another short session to unwind before bed. Once he arrived in the room he was planning on using, he was surprised to see Luna Lovegood inside, pulling what looked like a pair of her shoes out from a desk drawer. She turned to look at Alex with her usual smile.

"Oh, hello. Are you going to work more on enthralling the castle again tonight?" Alex smiled slightly.

"I don't think I'm quite that good, Luna. But what are you doing down here?" Alex replied. "Someone has been playing hide and seek with some of my things. Afterwards, I was hoping to hear you and Ramses play again." Alex noticed that she was wearing two right shoes, and the shoes she had picked up were lefts.

"Why would people hide your things from you?" Alex asked. "Because they think I'm looney. That's that they call me, Looney Lovegood." Alex and Ramses frowned at this, and made mental notes to find out what was going on, and do something about it. Alex absolutely detested bullies, and Ramses didn't care much for cruelty either.

"Well Luna, feel free to listen if you like." Alex opened the case and took out a bass and a guitar, each of which he tapped with a wand to un-shrink them. The bass stayed smaller than the guitar, sizing itself to Ramses, who flew over and picked it up. Luna looked over into the case and saw several instruments inside the case. There was still a drum set, a piano, a trumpet and a saxophone. Luna looked them over and pointing at the drums, and Alex noted a slightly longing look on the girl's face. "Well, here's a little song for you." Alex picked up his guitar and tapped his foot a few times to set the beat, and he started to play, with his familiar playing on the bass.

_Yeah, hey  
When you wish upon a star  
Dreams will take you very far, yeah  
When you wish upon a dream  
Life ain't always what it seems, oh yeah  
Once you see your light so clear  
In the sky so very dear_

_You're a shining star, no matter who you are  
Shining bright to see what you can truly be  
That you can truly be_

_Shining star come into view  
Shine is watchful light on you, yeah  
Gives you strength to carry on  
Make your body big and strong  
Future roads for you to pass  
Love to __watch__ your mug past_

_The shining star, lucky you  
The sinful redeeming shall be true  
On an adventure of the sun, yeah  
Yeah its all awake and just begun  
Yeah, thought I had to stir the mood  
That's it now I got my own oh yeah_

_So if you find yourself in need  
Why don't you listen to his words of __heat__  
Be a __child__ free of sin  
Be some place, yes I can  
Words of wisdom: yes I can_

_You're a shining star, no matter who you are  
Shining bright to see what you can truly be  
You're a shining star, no matter who you are  
Shining bright to see what you can truly be_

_Shining star for you to see, what your life can truly be  
Shining star for you to see, what your life can truly be  
Shining star for you to see, what your life can truly be!_

Luna smiled widely as Alex lost himself to the music, lifting her spirits. More than a few students and teachers could hear the music and singing, and it seemed to inspire good feelings in everyone who heard it. Several people stopped what they were doing to listen to the music, and more than a few students, starting with Tracy and Daphne from Slytherin House, who could make a likely guess to the identity of the guitarist, followed their ears to where the music was coming from and entered the room, unnoticed by the pair of musicians. Alex played several more songs, just allowing the music to flow from him as it moved him. As people came in, those who had heard him on the train weren't too surprised, but they were shocked when they saw Alex's familiar was playing as well.

After Alex had been playing for a little shy of an hour, he stopped and looked up, to see he had a bigger audience than he started with and people applauding. He blushed as he packed up his instruments. Several students patted him on the back and asked him questions about when he was going to play again, while several of the girls would now start planning their campaigns on how to catch Alex as a boyfriend. Tracy and Daphne both were smiling. As the two girls walked out, Tracey said over her shoulder with a sultry wink, "Thanks for the concert, Alex. I hope I can get a private show soon."

After most of the crowd had cleared out, Luna said, "Thank you Alex. Listening to you and your Bardic Dragon makes me feel better about my day. Having you invite me in, it feels nice. Must be what having friends feels like." Alex looked over at her. "Luna, I'd love it if you considered me a friend. If you need help with anything, or if your things keep moving, let me know." Luna looked him in the eyes, and could see no deceit, only honest friendliness. She walked over and hugged Alex, before saying. "Thank you. I think we better head back to our dorms, before curfew catches us out." The two headed back towards Ravenclaw Tower, and went to their respective rooms.

On Thursday, the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors had their first class with Professor Moody. All of the Gryffindors arrived early, eager to see that the retired Dark Wizard Hunter would be teaching them. As everyone entered the room and took seats, Harry, Ron and Hermione all took seats down in the front of the room, right in front of the teacher's desk and pulled out their books. Alex was a row back and he waved in greeting. "Hey guys," he looked at Hermione, who was starting to frown slightly, "and girl. Are you all ready to see what Professor Moody's got? I heard that he's supposed to be **good** at this. I bet we'll learn a lot from him." Soon everyone heard Moody's distinctive clunking footsteps coming down the corridor.

"You can put away the books, you won't be needing them," Professor Moody growled out. He then started calling role, his magical eye locking onto each student as they answered. Once he was done, he began his lecture.

"Well, I see you've had a good grounding in Dark Creatures from Professor Lupin. But you're very behind on dealing with curses. So I'm going to teach you how to deal with Dark Curses. After all, how are you supposed to defend yourselves from something you have no knowledge of?" Moody walked around the room for a few paces, before asking the class, "Who can name the curses most heavily punished by wizarding law?" Several hands went up all over the room.

Moody pointed at Ron, who answered, "The Imperious Curse." Moody nodded. "Five points to Gryffindor. The Ministry had a lot of trouble with that one at one time." The scarred teacher went over to his desk and pulled a jar out of his desk with spiders in it, making Ron shiver because of his arachnophobia. He took one out and held it so the class could see, before pointing his wand at it with a muttering of "_Imperio!_" The spider then began to swing on a line of silk like a trapeze artist, and jumped onto the desk, where it began to tap dance, causing the students to break out in laughter.

"Think this is funny, do you?" Moody growled out. "Would it be so funny if I did it to you? This spell give the caster total control of the target. Just remember, as easily as you could make someone dance, they could be ordering them to kill themselves, or their families." The class quieted as they thought about this. "The Imperious Curse can be fought, but it takes real strength of will, and not everyone has it. Best defense is to not get hit with it. Can someone give me another illegal curse?" Moody dropped the spider he was holding back in the jar.

"The Cruciatus Curse," Neville Longbottom said when Moody pointed at him. Moody picked up a different spider and enlarged it, before muttering, "_Crucio!_" The spider immediately started twitching, and if it could talk, it would have been screaming in pain. Neville turned white and was clenching his desk, eyes wide with horror. Moody raised his wand and shrank the spider, and put it back in the jar. "You don't need torture tools if you can cast that curse. Right...anyone know any others?"

Hermione raised her hand and when she was acknowledged, said "Avada Kedavra." Moody nodded and grinned slightly. "The Killing Curse." He reached into the jar for the third spider, which was frantically trying to evade him. He pulled it out and put it on the desk, and it tried to escape immediately. "_Avada Kedavra!_" A green jet of light rushed from Moody's wand and hit the spider, and it rolled over dead. "No defense against that one, and only one person has ever survived it." He looked over at Harry.

"These are the Unforgivable Curses. Using any one of them against a human being will get you a one-way trip to Azkaban. Now..." Moody continued his lecture for the rest of the period, and everyone took notes, no one speaking until the bell rang. As everyone was leaving, Alex walked up to Harry and said, "Creepy, eh?"

"Yeah, mate." Harry replied. "Catch you later on after dinner?" Alex nodded in agreement. "Yeah, sounds good. Be nice to sit back and relax a bit with you guys. I'll bring my guitar."

"Yeah, Alex. I heard you gave a concert the other night." Harry quipped. Alex gave a sheepish grin in response. "Not exactly…I just wanted to get in a bit of relaxing time, and people just showed up. Not my fault."

After the rest of the school day, Harry, Ron and Hermione met up with Alex after dinner. He had his instrument case with him, and a young blond girl. "Guys, this is Luna. Luna, this is Harry, Ron and Hermione."

Ron frowned at Luna's presence. "What are you doing hanging out with Looney Lovegood, mate? Everyone knows she's not right in the head." Harry and Hermione both frowned slightly at Ron, while Alex gave the red-head an intimidating glare and a slight growl. "Ron, don't talk about my friend like that. She has a unique perspective on the world, but that's no reason to be a bully." Ron shook slightly. _'There's something about that guy that's bloody scary as hell!'_ "S-sorry, mate."

Seeing that he had shocked some sense into Ron, Alex relaxed. "First let's get our homework knocked out, then I'll play a few numbers."

The group of friends went to the same classroom that Alex had used last night, and the group of friends entered and set out to get started with their homework. While the group worked on their various assignments, Ron asked, "So how do you like Hogwarts, Alex?"

"So far, it's been interesting. I really like Professor Fitwick, he agreed to help me keep up my training for dueling. He's an eight-time world champion dueler! With his help, I am going to OWN some people in the ring when I make it there."

Ron and Harry perked up at this. "You're going to get dueling training from a master! Wicked!" Harry added," I wish I could train with him." Alex shrugged. "You probably could. If you like, I can help you with a physical training program to get you into shape, so you'll be able to keep up. And you'll have to spend some time doing research, to learn new spells." Ron frowned at this, extra work was something he wanted nothing to with. So he went back to doing his homework. Harry on the other hand, asked with a slightly puzzled look, "Why would I need help from you, Alex? I thought Prof. Fitwick was teaching."

"You don't **have** to get help or permission from me. I was just offering to help you with the physical part of training. After all, if you research it, you'll find that the more physically fit you are, the better you'll do in duels, and with magic in general. Look at the ancient Greeks; the wizards that muggles thought were gods were all fitness buffs, and look how powerful they were compared to the witches and wizards today." Alex responded. "Besides, being fit & strong will help you deal a little better with Quidditch next year, too."

This comment got Ron's undivided attention. "You can help us get better at Quidditch? When can we start?" he asked with an eager grin. "We can start Saturday morning at six-thirty. That's when I usually start my workouts." Ron wasn't happy about this, but after some thought, he decided he'd give it a try.

The group of students continued to work, and after they finished their homework, Alex pulled out his guitar and played for awhile, once again drawing a crowd.

_**AN: As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.**_


	4. Chapter 4

Harry Potter & the Dragon-Lord of Atlantis

A fanfic by Alexander Funryuu

Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter. Any songs mentioned belong to their owners.

_'Thoughts'_

Signs

_TITLES_

(Common Atlantian)

**(High Atlantian)**

**Chapter 4  
**

Saturday morning had arrived, and Harry and Ron were slowly awakening, in order to meet Alex that morning to join his morning workout. Grumbling about 'damned morning people' and 'being awake when even the sun was still in bed', they left their room and went downstairs and outside, to see Alex waiting for them. Alex was wearing a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and a hooded sweatshirt that had lettering on the back that said, _'De Gaule School of Savate & Swordsmanship'_. Alex was also carrying a small box which he had received Friday with the mail.

"Morning everyone! It's a great day to train." Alex said with a grin. First, let me show you some stretching exercises and start you warming up." He demonstrated the stretches and walked the two other teens through them, and made sure that they were doing them correctly. Once Alex felt they had warmed up enough, he had them all stand up.

"Was that the workout? I don't see how we'll get stronger from that stuff." Ron commented.

Alex grinned again. But this wasn't a friendly grin, this was more like a drill sergeant grin...right before he does something utterly cruel. "You didn't find the warm-up and stretching a challenge? I'm glad. Because now that we've warmed up your muscles, we can get started. We're going to start with pyramids."

"What does a tomb in Egypt have to do with working out?" Harry asked. "A pyramid is just doing a certain type of exercise, like push-ups, for a certain number of reps. We're going to do pushups starting with one, then we'll do two, and so on until we reach ten without stopping. Then we'll work our way back down to one, before we do the same thing with sit-ups." Both of the British wizards were mostly exhausted by the time they finished five pushups, Harry being the least tired of them. "If you can't do more pushups normally, do them on your knees." Alex told them as he saw that they weren't as fit as he was. He walked among them and added, "You're doing well, keep it up!" He then handed each of them a bottle of water for them to drink.

"Ok, we're at five, switch over to sit-ups, and we'll go to five." As the students did their sit-ups, Alex looked over them as they exercised. "You will be sore tomorrow, but as you keep working out, your body will get used to it. So don't get discouraged. Once we finish this, we'll do a short run, then some cool down exercises and then you guys will be done with me for this morning."

After roughly another forty minutes (though it seemed FAR longer to Harry and Ron), they finally finished their exercises and then did the cool down. "Good job. For beginners, not too shabby. If you want to see good results I'd recommend working out at least three days a week. If you're interested, I'll see you guys either Monday or Tuesday morning." Alex said as they finished up. Harry and the others all noticed that Alex had barely begun to sweat, as the American boy opened the case and removed a figurine, which he tapped with his wand. It grew until it was the same sized of a person, and it was holding a dull practice sword. Alex then pulled another practice sword out of the box, as well as a safety mask.

"What are you doing?" Harry and Ron both asked. "And what's that?" Ron added as he pointed at the dummy.

"Training dummy for me to spar with. My old teachers, Annette & Paul would be upset with me if I didn't stay in practice." Alex replied as he lifted his own blade and faced the dummy, after placing his wand in a wrist holster on his left wrist. He held the sword in one hand, with his side facing the dummy and his hand stretched out behind himself for balance. Alex had spent some time over the past few nights practicing Atlantian sword techniques in the mindscape with Frostbite, and he was eager to see how well they worked in real life. '_Hmm…I think I'll start with __Djem So, and I'll work in Vaapad and Shien.'_ Alex then shed his sweatshirt, so it wouldn't restrict his movement. "You guys can watch if you like, but could you stand back a bit? I don't want you to get hit accidentally."

Once Harry and Ron were clear, Alex called out "Level Three, en garde!" to the dummy, which lifted its sword in a brief salute, before thrusting at Alex swiftly. Alex parried the blow aside, and made a quick slash, but the dummy quickly side-stepped to avoid the attack, before kicking Alex in the stomach to get some room, before it initiated a series of rapid-fire slashes, kicks and thrusts, forcing Alex to go on the defense for several moments. The dummy quickly followed, leaping at Alex with a somersault as it brought its blade down. Alex quickly cart wheeled out of the way, while the dummy quickly pivoted to follow him.

Harry and Ron were gaping at the display of swordsmanship, and as they watched, several other students who were early risers came out, drawn by the sounds of the blades clashing. As the match continued, even Professors Fitwick, Hagrid and Headmaster Dumbledore came out to watch the spar, both Alex and the training dummy moving, spinning, attacking and parrying each other's attacks, in an extremely graceful, but swift manner. "It looks almost like they're dancing," Tracy said to Daphne, in awe of the grace with which both combatants moved. Several other student made various comments as the duel continued. As the dummy went for an extremely fast slash at Alex's legs, he drew his wand and with a quickly mumbled '_Wingardium Levosia_' on himself, leapt over the dummy to kick it in the back and knock it down. The dummy quickly rolled away and flipped to its feet before Alex could follow through with a finishing blow, then went back on the attack. Finally, Alex was able to get some space of his own, when the dummy used a two-handed swing which Alex was forced to block.

But instead of standing his ground, Alex allowed the swing to push him back, and did a graceful reverse roll as it did so. He landed on his feet, with his sword in one hand behind him in a reverse grip, the blade extending towards his shoulder and his hand in front of him as he crouched slightly. The dummy rushed at Alex and took another slash at his chest. With a yell, Alex tumbled sideways, coming up swinging his own blade underhanded, and the dummy barely managed to get its own blade up in time to defend itself. But the force behind the blow still staggered the dummy, and Alex immediately started to press his own attack. Several of the Muggle-raised students saw the way Alex wielded his blade, along with the acrobatics and were reminded of a certain series of movies. After several dozen strikes, Alex switched grips again in the middle of a combination and catching the dummy's sword in a binding maneuver. With a quick flick of the wrist, the dummy had been disarmed and Alex quickly thrust his elbow into the dummy's face and followed with a sword thrust into the dummy's chest, 'killing' it. Now, Alex was sweating freely, and he looked tired.

There was a sudden round of applause from all the observers, which caused Alex to flush. "Err…." he scratched his head in embarrassment. "A most excellent demonstration, Mr. ...Potare, correct?" Dumbledore said as he smiled at Alex. "I take it your father sent you the sparring dummies, so he already knows about this. But in the future, please inform the staff as well, so no one thinks there is a battle going on, young Padawan." Alex replied as he turned dark from blushing, "Yes sir, sorry about the confusion." All of the Muggle-raised students laughed, now recognizing where they had seen someone move like Alex had been during the spar, while the pure-bloods had to have the joke explained to them. The students began to disperse, to get some breakfast or to do other things that they wanted to do on the weekend. Soon, the only people still present were Fitwick, Dumbledore, Harry, Ron, Tracy and Daphne. The tiny Professor Fitwick walked up to Alex, grinning widely. "I bet you practice that to help you with your footwork, right?" At Alex's nod, he continued, "Well, if you aren't too tired, perhaps you can show me a bit of your magical dueling, so I have an idea of how hard I can push you." "Of course, Professor. Let me deactivate the dummy." Alex quickly did so, and put away his practice sword.

While Alex was putting away his gear, Professor Fitwick & Dumbledore conjured some shields around the area to make sure no spells could go astray and hit someone by accident. Once they were done, Fitwick took a stance and said, "Alright Mr. Potare, let's see what kinds of spells you know and how good you are with them. Begin!" Alex replied, "Yes sir!" and began to let lose a barrage of hexes, starting with the low level jinxes like the tripping hex, a flare spell to dazzle enemies, and boil-causing hexes, working his way up to stunners and banishing spells. Fitwick easily dodged all of these and fired back with a low-powered _Reductor_ curse and _Incendio_ charm, just to test Alex's reflexes and reactions. Alex responded with a dueler's shield around his left forearm, which he used to swat the _Reductor _back at the dueling master, and spun past the _Incendio_. Fitwick nodded approvingly as he dodged his own spell. "Not bad…you're fast, and very accurate with your spells. Power is a little on the low side, but that's workable. Is that all you've got?" Alex shook his head and smirked. "I have a few more. But I don't think they're anything you'd be familiar with, and I'm still working on them. Also, I didn't want to risk injuring you."

Dumbledore and Fitwick smiled, and Fitwick said, "I'm certain that you just might be calling them something different. Let's see them." Alex shrugged, and opened up with another barrage. "(Magic Missile!)" Five magical bolts shot from Alex's wand and raced after Fitwick, who tried to dodge them. But he was being tracked by the missiles, despite his best efforts to evade and was forced to shield himself as they tracked him. His shield shattered as the missiles all struck at once, and he was forced to dodge the _Expelliarmus_ and a _Incarcerous_ that Alex fired off while Fitwick was busy dodging the missiles. Alex decided to try to capitalize on the situation and with a yell of '(Flame Lance!)', let loose a lance of fire that slammed into the ground under Fitwick as he leapt out of the way. It exploded, and Fitwick used the explosion and an addition levitation charm to get height and started raining hexes down at Alex, who was dodging and shielding rapidly. Finally, Fitwick took down the student by catching him with a high-powered stunner that broke through his shield when he tried to deflect it. Fitwick did a double take, surprised at how well that one of his fourth-year students did. _'He could probably take on and beat most of the sixth and seventh years in a straight duel. This one is a warrior.' _

Dumbledore was surprised as well. Not so much by the effects of the spells themselves, but because he vaguely recognized the language. He walked over to Alex and Fitwick as he revived Alex from being stunned. "Good job, Mr. Potare! Your could have put a bit more power behind your spells, but you aim was spot-on, and you didn't spend a lot of time waiting for spells to hit, but you just did your best to keep up your attack when you had the advantage. Your instincts and reflexes are good as well. "Mr. Potare, where did you learn such spells? Particularly ones in Atlantian?" Alex wanted to slap himself, seeing as he had revealed something that he shouldn't have. "Well, sir, I found them in an old book. I have a book on the Atlantian language, and I figured that if I could learn to cast spells in Atlantian, it would give me an edge because most people wouldn't have a clue as to what I was casting." '_Not like I can tell him I'm actually being trained by an Atlantian Dragon.'_

"Would you mind if I borrowed that book, Mr. Potare? I'm sure that there are many people who would love to have a copy of such a thing. Not much information on Atlantis is available." Alex thought about it for a moment, before deciding that he could at least share a copy of the translation guide. "I'll have to have it sent here, sir. I can lend you the translation guide." Dumbledore smiled brightly. "Thank you, Mr. Potare. I shall look forward to receiving it." With that, Dumbledore took his leave as he vanished the shields he had helped to put up. As the Headmaster walked away, he wondered about a few odd things he noticed. _'Hmm…he seems be fairly comfortable with Atlantian for him to only know it for spell casting…he may bear a closer look. I suspect he knows more about Atlantis than he is letting on.'_

As the teachers left, Harry, Ron, Tracey & Daphne all walked over to Alex, and started asking him all sorts of questions. "Blimey, how'd you learn to fight like that?!?" "Where'd you learn those weird spells? And what language was that?" "How did you get so good with a sword?" "Aren't you cold?" Alex waved his hands rapidly, in order to try to calm the questions.

"I learned the sword and hand to hand from my godparents," Alex pointed to the logo on his sweatshirt as an explanation, "and I'm interesting in becoming a professional dueler or Auror, so I got extra tutoring back at home. I intend to work with Professor Fitwick to keep building on my skills." Alex looked down at himself, and noticed how sweaty he was. "As for the spells, that…is a secret." Alex smirked slightly at the expressions on his friends faces. "Well, I'm going to hit the showers. I don't want to get stinky. Catch you guys later."With that, Alex picked up his training gear and headed back to the Ravenclaw dorms to shower and get changed.

The rest of the month passed more of less in the same manner. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, Harry and Ron, along with Terry Boot, Dean Thomas, Luna, Tracy & Daphne would occasionally work out with him; on Fridays, Alex and Ramses would practice music in an empty classroom (inadvertently creating a sort of 'date' area for students) and on the weekends, he would either get extra instruction or mock duels with Professor Fitwick, who was now adding in swordplay to Alex's training sessions as well. Much to Alex's dismay at first, Fitwick was a blademaster as well. While Alex did have the advantages of greater reach, strength and rather unorthodox attack forms, Fitwick's greater experience, along with better casting and small size, kept the Charms master on top of every duel.

Harry talked with Sirius about his visions of Voldemort, almost getting spotted in the Gryffindor common room's fireplace. In October, classes continued as normal, the difficulty of the assignments increasing, especially in Moody's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. One particular day, Moody announced that he would be putting the Imperious Curse on each student, to demonstrate its power, and to see if they could fight it off. After reassuring Hermione, who was very much a stickler for the rules and stating that participation was voluntary, he started. One by one, each student was put under the curse, and did the most extraordinary things while under its effects. Not one person had managed to resist yet, Harry noted.

Moody looked Harry's way. "Potter, you're next." Harry moved to the area Moody had cleared out, and Moody pointed his wand and said, _"Imperio!"_ Harry felt a sense of great euphoria, as every thought and worry in his mind was lifted from his mind, leaving him vaguely happy. He then heard Mad-Eye's voice in his mind…_Jump onto the desk…jump onto the desk…_ Harry bent his knees, preparing to follow the order, when he suddenly wondered why he should jump onto the desk. Silly thing to do, really. The voice yelled at him to jump, and he shook his head, and said, "No," and sat down. Harry felt the odd feeling in his mind suddenly leave as quickly as it came. Moody growled out with a pleased look, "Now that's more like it! Potter fought and beat it! The rest of you pay attention, and watch his eyes, that where you can see it. Potter, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling you!"

Moody then went over to Alex, and said, "You're the last, Potare. You're wanting to be an Auror or professional dueler, right?" Alex nodded as he got up. "Yes sir." Moody grinned. "Well, let's see how strong your will is. _Imperio!"_ Alex also felt a sense of great euphoria, as every thought and worry in his mind was lifted from his mind, leaving him vaguely happy. He then heard Mad-Eye's voice in his mind…_Jump onto the desk…jump onto the desk…_ Alex frowned, and his forehead beaded with a small amount of sweat as his knees slowly bent, before he abruptly stood straight up, and drew his wand on the Professor. He put down his wand once Moody released him from the Imperious. "No." Moody looked surprised, and yet pleased. "Good job, Potare! They'll have a devil of a time controlling you as well. And take five points for having the will to try to attack as well."

The rest of October passed, and finally, October 30th arrived, which was the day for the other schools to arrive for the Triwizard Tournament. All of the Hogwarts students were crowding the windows, as a flying coach being pulled by giant winged horses flew into the area, with Hagrid using colored panels in his hands to indicate where they were to land. After the coach landed, it turned out to be the French students from Beauxbottoms Academy, led in by the extremely tall Headmistress Madam Maxime. From the lake outside Hogwarts, a large wooden sailing ship emerged from the depths, flying the colors of Durmstrang Academy, with Headmaster Igor Karkaroff. After each school made their own entrance into the Great Hall, the students each sat at one of the tables. Beauxbottoms at the Ravenclaw table, Durmstrang at the Slytherin table. They were followed by the Hogwarts staff, and finally the headmasters.

After the other Headmasters were seated, Dumbledore began to speak. "Good evening, everyone. I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both enjoyable and comfortable. The tournament will officially be opened after the feast. How feel free to eat, drink and make yourselves at home!" With that, all sorts of food appeared on the tables, and the students dug in. While everyone was eating, a girl with silvery- blonde hair, who had let out a derisive chuckle during Dumbledore's speech, came over and asked for one of the French dishes on the Gryffindor table. When she arrived, Ron and several other boys, were stunned into speechlessness, prompting laughter from Harry.

"She's a _veela!_" he said hoarsely to Harry. "They don't make girls like that at Hogwarts!" "They make them okay at Hogwarts," Harry said without thinking as he looked towards the Ravenclaw table at Cho Chang, who was sitting a few seats away from the mystery blond. Once everyone had finished eating, Dumbledore explained the rules of the tournament and told everyone that they had twenty-four hours to submit their names if they wished to enter. He added, "I will also be adding an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire. No one under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line." After the announcements, the Weasley twins began to plan how they would beat the Age Line and enter."You'll try to get in, won't you Harry?" George asked. Harry thought about for a while, then shook his head. "Nah, I'll pass. My life gets exciting enough as it is. No need to look for trouble."

The next day, there was a group of students all watching the Goblet, waiting to see who else would enter. At this point, the Weasley twins entered, with their friend Lee Jordan. They both took a drop of Aging Potion, and Fred went to put in his name. At first, it seemed like he had managed to fool the Line, but then there was a sputtering sound, and both twins were thrown out of the circle. And just to add insult to injury, both of them now had long white beards. Everyone, including Fred and George, laughed.

After they left to get treated in the hospital wing, Harry Ron and Hermione walked out to go visit with Hagrid. As they were out walking, the trio ran across Alex, who was just finishing up his Saturday morning combat practice. Several witches had been watching him train (if asked, they would have said that they wanted to watch the show), and they were headed out to do whatever things they had planned for the day. "Hey guys, what's up?" Alex asked the trio. He was clad in his usual workout gear, and carrying his training gear. "Nothing much. We're going to go see Hagrid. Interested in coming with us?" Harry asked. After a moment of thought, Alex nodded as Ramses flew down to join him. "Sure. Let's go."

The four students and one familiar went down to Hagrid's hut. Outside, Beauxbottom's horses were in a makeshift stable beside it. Harry walked up and knocked on the door, and Fang's bark answered the group immediately. "Bout time! Thought you lot'd forgotten where I live!" Hagrid said when he opened the door. He noticed Alex at this point, and more importantly (in the half-giant's mind) his pseudodragon. "New friend, Harry?" "Yeah Hagrid. This is Alexander Potare, and Ramses," Harry said as he pointed them out. Alex extended his hand and shook hands with the half-giant, while Ramses accepted a brief rub from Hagrid. "Pleased to meet ya, Mr. Potare. You're in my fourth year Ravenclaw class, right?" Hagrid took a good look at the pseudodragon. "Yes I am, sir. And please call me Alex." Alex replied. "Glad to meet you Alex. I was wondering if I could borrow Ramses for a class lecture? I'll give ye some points for it." Alex thought about it, before looking at Ramses. _'Do you mind helping him out Ramses?'_ Alex thought at his familiar. After a moment, Ramses nodded. "Well, he's willing to help you out, so sure." Hagrid grinned widely at this. "Well, this'll be a rare treat! Never woulda thought I'd have a chance to see a real live pseudodragon! They're extraordinarily rare. Take twenty points for Ravenclaw." Alex grinned at this. "Score!" The group spent the rest of the afternoon talking, except for Alex who left to clean up and eat a bit, before he had his training with Fitwick that afternoon.

Alex ended up practicing dodging spells with his feet tied together, a rather unconventional, but effective exercise. Finally, everyone found their way into the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, and for the selection of the school champions. After everyone was seated, and had eaten, Dumbledore started the Goblet to tell everyone who the school champions were.

The Goblet spit out a piece of parchment in a tongue of flame, which Dumbledore caught as the flames died down. "The champion for Durmstrang will be Victor Krum!" A storm of applause rose swept the hall, and Krum left the room into a side room. The Goblet flared up again, and spit out another piece of parchment. "The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!" Fleur then disappeared into the side chamber, and the Goblet spit a third time. "The champion for Hogwarts is Cedric Diggory!" All of the Hugglepuffs stood up and shook the hall with their cheering for Cedric, and it took a while for the cheering and noise to die down. As everyone quieted down, Dumbledore began to speak again, but he was interrupted by the Goblet flaring up again, and spitting out another piece of parchment. Dumbledore caught it automatically, and after several long moment of staring at it, he announced the name. "Harry Potter."

Harry was utterly stunned, gone numb as everyone in the room turned to look at him. "I…I didn't put my name in…you know I didn't." he said to Ron and Hermione. Both of them stared blankly back. Harry looked over at the Ravenclaw table to see Alex looking at him, and mouthing _"Did you enter?"_ Harry shook his head frantically 'no.' After Alex stared at him with a look that almost seemed to be looking into his soul, Alex nodded at him, and indicated that he would look for Harry later.

Dumbledore quickly called for Harry to come to the front and go into the room with the other champions. Harry also noted that the Headmaster wasn't smiling. After a great deal of argument and yelling, Mad-Eye Moody interjected, suggesting that Harry had been entered because someone was hoping to get him killed during the tournament. After some more conversations, it was decided that Harry would have to compete with the other champions, because the Goblet created a magically binding contract, forcing the chosen participants to compete.

As Harry arrived at the Gryffindor common room, there was a celebration party waiting for him. Fred & George asked him how he had managed to enter without getting a beard, while several other Gryffindors congratulated him and said that they were happy to see him as a champion. Finally, Harry got free and made it to his room, where Ron was laying on his bed. Ron looked over at Harry with a strained grin. "Congratulations, Harry. I just want to know how you did it, mate. And why you didn't share with your best mate!" Ron said with an annoyed voice. "I didn't put my name in, Ron. Someone else put my name in." Harry replied. "Why would they do that?" "I dunno," Harry said, before adding, "Maybe to get me killed in this tournament." Ron frowned at this, all traces of a smile now gone. "You need to get some sleep. I expect you'll have to do a photo-call in the morning." With that, Ron yanked his curtains shut, leaving Harry standing there cut off from one of the few people who he felt would believe him.

The next morning, Harry exited the common room, to find Hermione and Alex waiting for him. Hermione had a napkin of toast with her for Harry, while Alex was just grinning as he held an apple, which he tossed to Harry. "Don't let them get you down, Harry." Alex said. "Here Harry, I thought you want this….want to go for a walk?" Hermione asked. "Good idea," Harry said gratefully to the both of them. The group of students walked along, and Harry told Hermione and Alex everything that had happened after he left the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall that night. To Harry's great relief, Hermione accepted his story without question, and surprisingly so did Alex.

"I like to consider myself a good judge of people and situations, and my gut feeling, as well as your reactions, all say that you were more shocked than anyone else there, and that you didn't put yourself in." Hermione chimed in, "Well, of course I knew you hadn't entered yourself. The look on your face when Dumbledore read your name! But the question is, who did put your name in? Because Moody's right…no student could have pulled that off--" "Where's Ron?" Harry interrupted. Hermione hesitated. "Umm…he was at breakfast." "Does he still think I entered myself?" "Well….no, I don't think so…not really," Hermione said awkwardly. "What's that supposed to mean, '_not really'_?"

"My guess is, he a bit jealous of the attention you're getting Harry." Alex commented. "At least that's my best guess, based on his fuming and muttering under his breath about how his friend wouldn't share how he entered." Alex said. "Jealous of what?! He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the entire school?" Harry said incredulously. "Look," Hermione said patiently, "it's always you who gets all the attention. I know it's not your fault," she added quickly, seeing Harry preparing an angry rant. "You know he's always looking for his chance to shine, and he's always getting pushed aside when you're around, and I guess that this was one time too many…" "He wants to have everyone staring at him and gawking at him…tell him I'll gladly switch with him." Harry said bitterly. "You tell him yourself, Harry. It's the only way it'll get sorted out," Hermione said. "I'm not going running after him to make him grow up! Maybe he'll believe I'm not enjoying this when I get my neck broken or--" Harry yelled, ranting angrily.

"That's not funny," Hermione said quietly. "Not funny at all. When you get back to the castle--" Hermione stared, about to tell Harry to write Sirius, before she remembered that Alex wasn't in on that secret, and gave him a slightly apprehensive look, as if assessing his trustworthiness. Fortunately, Alex interrupted with his own commentary, though he did catch the look. "Ummm…I think what we need to worry about now is the fact that he was entered, so we need to be planning on helping him out as best we can, to make sure he comes out on top, and survives this thing." Alex calmly said. Harry looked at Alex a bit more closely. "What can you do to help, Alex?"

"I can upgrade your training to an accelerated program, to rapidly get you in top physical condition. If what things I've seen and heard about Hermione are true, the both of us could help you learn new spells to help out as well." Harry and Hermione thought about this, and remembered the exhibition duels and training that they had seen Alex doing with Professor Fitwick on Saturday afternoons, so they both knew Alex was skilled. Hermione remembered something she had been meaning to ask for some time. "Where did you learn some of those odd spells? They aren't mentioned in the library, and not to mention whatever language that is you're casting them in! I'd like to learn some of that too." Hermione asked. She had heard about some of the unknown battle spells Alex had been seen casting, and want to get her hands on some of his books, or whatever he was learning from.

Alex frowned thoughtfully at this. He had a sneaking suspicion that Harry was the 'Chosen One' he'd be helping, and could justify teaching him some of the Atlantian magic he was learning. Hermione on the other hand, was questionable. He had a feeling she was the type to have absolute trust in authority figures, and he didn't want certain secrets getting out. The last thing he needed was for it to get out he had access to an entire library of Atlantian magic and history. In particular, he didn't want to risk the fact that he was a Lord, or part dragon coming out. "We can talk about it later, I suppose. Don't take it personally, but I know Harry better than I know you, and I'm certain that Harry will keep my secrets. But I don't know you very well as of yet." Alex gave an apologetic shrug. "Right now though, I've got some homework of my own to take care of, catch you later." With that Alex waved and took off, to do his own schoolwork and to decide how much faith he was willing to put in Harry's friends. From what he could see so far, Ron was likely to be a no-go, while Hermione was a possibility.

In the meantime, Harry sent off a letter to Sirius to update him on what was happening at Hogwarts. He also asked his opinion on if he should trust Alex with his secret. He also discussed some of the unusual spells he had seen Alex use, and mentioned that Alex was offering to teach him those spells in order to make sure Harry survived. Over the next few days, Harry noticed that the rest of the school also thought he had put his name in, and they were very cold towards him and Gryffindor House, especially the Hugglepuffs, who normally got along well with Gryffindor House. The Ravenclaws, with the exception of Alex and Luna, all thought he had put in his name to get more fame.

One notable oddity, though, was that several Ravenclaw girls came to class with blue colored skin, and randomly singing 'La, la, la la la la,' in a high-pitched voice for most of the day. Some peopel thought Fred & George had something to do with it, but there were as mystified as everyone else was.

To top it all off, on Friday in Double Potions, Harry saw several students with badges that said, '_Support Cedric Diggory, the REAL Hogwarts Champion!_' in glowing letters. Malfoy then pressed the badge, and the letters changed to say _'Potter Stinks!'_ The Slytherins howled with laughter, while Ron stood by silently. He wasn't laughing, but he wasn't standing up for Harry either. At this point, Malfoy offered Hermione a badge, and made a disparaging Mudblood remark, which finally pushed Harry's temper over the edge. He drew his wand and let off a curse at Draco, who fired one back. The two spells hit one another and veered off, Harry's hitting Goyle and giving him large, painful boils on his nose, and Draco's hitting Hermione, making her front teeth grow rapidly.

Snape showed up at this point, and after hearing a biased account of what happened, sent Goyle to the Hospital wing, while Hermione ran off crying when Snape said he didn't notice any difference in Hermione, even though her teeth were at her collar. He also took fifty points from Gryffindor and gave Ron and Harry a detention. Finally, everyone went in the classroom, where Snape told them they would be making antidotes for poisons, and that they would test them. Snape gave Harry an evil look, and Harry knew that Snape intended to poision him.

Fortunately, he was rescued from this sad fate by the appearance of Colin Creevy, and told Snape that Harry had to leave in order to take pictures with the rest of the champions. Harry was taken to another room in the castle, where the other champions were waiting, along with Ludo Bagman and Rita Skeeter, a reporter for the _Daily Prophet_ and her cameraman. When Harry showed up, Rita was quick to grab Harry and drag him off into a broom closet, where he pulled out a Quick-Quotes Quill and started asking Harry questions, most of which were irrelevent. Harry also angrily noted that the quill was making things up, and not recording truthfully.

Fortunately, Harry was rescued by Dumbledore, so they could have the Weighing of the Wands, which was going to be taken care of by Mr. Olivander, the wand maker. After confirming that all of the champions' wands were in good working order, they all posed for photos and finally were released. Harry went to dinner, to find that Hermione was still getting treated. After dinner, though, Alex walked up to Harry and pulled him aside into an empty classroom and threw up several privacy charms.

"Well Harry, have you thought about the extra help I'm offering?" Harry nodded. "If you're willing to help me out, I'm happy to get the help. I've already seen what you can do. What is it going to cost me, though?" Alex grinned. "Glad you think that way. As far as a cost, all I ask is that you don't teach these spells to anyone, don't use my spells to do evil and that you don't tell anyone the origins of the spells. I have my secrets to protect, just like you." Harry frowned at this, and Alex quickly added, "Don't worry, nothing is illegal about them, I just don't want to be harassed by people wanting to see my personal spell books, that's all." Harry thought about it, and nodded his agreement. Then he asked, "What about Hermione? Once she starts seeing all the new spells I'm learning, she's going to want to learn them too." Alex shrugged. "Sorry Harry, but I don't know her well enough to make a judgment call on what she'd do with the information. Besides, she'd want the books to read for herself, and they're all spelled so that only a family member can read them. If you're willing to vouch for her, I'll teach her a few spells."

Alex grinned before adding, "and I don't know her well enough to marry her." At Harry's incredulous look, Alex explained. "The only way she can become a family member and get around the charm would be to marry into my family." Harry wryly commented, "I think you'll be safe then. But from what I hear, you're a rather hot topic among more than a few girls, between your physique and your musical skills. Some people think you're dating either Luna, Susan Bones, Tracy Davis or Daphne Greenglass, since they are usually the first people to show up for your 'concerts' and the last to leave. I've even heard some of the sixth and seventh years mentioning you." "No less than they discuss you, Mr. Boy-Who-Lived," Alex fired back with a smirk. "I'm surprised you haven't already built yourself a harem." The two boys continued with some good-natured teasing for a few more minutes, before Harry left for Gryffindor tower, and Alex went to go get his music case for his music practice. Once he had his case, he left to go to his usual practice classroom.

Suddenly he came across a very…interesting spectacle on his to practice.

"I'd like to have my wand back, please," a dreamy but familiar voice said.

Alex snapped out his thoughts about what he was going to play as he heard the voice.

A Slytherin student in Alex's year…Adrian Pucey, he thought his name was, had two wands in his hands.

Luna was standing in front of him, trying to grab her wand back. Although her voice remained the same, Alex could see the frustration in her silvery eyes.

Adrian had a sneer on his face as he held her wand out of reach. "What's the matter, _Loony_? Your Crumple-Horned Snorehacks can't help you now."

"They're Crumple-Horned Snorkacks – please give my wand back."

By now Alex could detect the note of pleading in her voice. Of course she would want it back – it was a wizard or witch's most important asset. Alex would feel naked without his.

"Not exactly like you deserve it," Adrian continued. "After all…your mother blew herself up with one, didn't she?"

If possible, Luna's face paled several times and Alex could have sworn she started shaking.

_That's enough. Now I'm pissed. _Alex decided to make himself known. "What's going on here?"

"Oh look what we have here," Adrian's insults were unrelenting. "A loony bin and a dirty half-blood Yank." Alex frowned at this, and his eyes turned cold as he stared at Adrian. "I suggest you give Luna back her wand and apologize." The Slytherin student seemed unaffected. "Oh? And what are you going to do if I don't? My father made sure I had dueling lessons from a certified master, a lousy half-blood isn't going to beat me. So I suggest you back down before you get hurt." Alex grinned. But it wasn't his normal friendly smile, it was a malicious grin that promised pain and suffering to whomever had pissed him off. "Really?" At this point, Adrian tried to get a full-body bind spell off at Alex, but Alex was far faster, and even though the Slytherin had his wand out, Alex dodged the spell and fired off a disarming spell, followed by a modified Levitation spell, which lifted the other boy into the air by his neck while choking him.

"I find your lack of faith in my skills…disturbing," Alex commented as he caught both wands with his free hand. He then handed Luna her wand, before turning back to the now cowering bully. "I've got two suggestions for you; don't be a cowardly bully, it annoys me. Second, don't let your mouth write checks your skills can't cash. _Incarcerous."_ At this point, he allowed the bully to fall to the floor. "DON'T bother Luna, or any other student again, or I'll get more…creative."At this point, the frightened boy nodded rapidly, hoping to be let free so he could go about his night. After a few more moments to make his point, Alex released Adrian, and added as he and Luna left, "Oh yeah, one more thing. If I find out she's being bullied again and you had something to do with it, after I deal with them, I'll come looking for YOU. Is anything I said unclear to you?"

"No, Potare, you're crystal clear," Adrian said as he got back to his feet and left as quickly as he could without running. Alex's eyes lightened, and he smiled at Luna. "Well, now that that's done, shall we go?" Luna smiled and nodded, as they went towards the usual classroom, where several other students, including some of the visiting students from Beauxbatons and Durmstang, and Ramses were already waiting. Right outside the door, Luna hugged Alex. "Thank you, Alex." She looked up at the tall boy from the hug, and smiled. "Why did you help me, though?"

Alex shrugged. "I hate bullies, and I consider you a friend. I don't let people mess with my friends."

Delighted with the answer, she commented, "So can I consider you my friend then?"

Alex smiled. "Sure! If anyone else bothers you, let Ramses or I know." Nodding, the two opened the door of the classroom and entered.

Luna suddenly realized something. Her things were coming up missing less often, and several girls that had been taking them and making fun of her had been getting viciously pranked. "You wouldn't know anything about several girls in my dorm being pranked, would you?"

Alex smirked. "A bunch of Smurfs walking around tends to draw attention, so I know about it. But I can say I didn't prank them." '_Ramses did that on his own,_' he thought to himself.

After setting up, Alex and Ramses played several songs on a few different instruments. As it was getting late, he stood up. "Well, it's been fun. But it's about time to wrap things up, so before I stop for the night, I've got one more song. It's a little something I think the ladies in the house will enjoy." Then he started to sing, while Ramses backed him up on the drums.

_Ohh babe, be my sweet lady  
Ohh, I want you to be my lady  
Lady, oh babe_

_Sweet lady, would you be my  
Sweet love for a lifetime?  
I'll be there when you need me  
Just call and receive me_

As Alex continued to sing, he casually moved through the crowd, so no one girl would get jealous and he wouldn't have to deal with any hissy fits later.

_Sweet lady, babe_

_Now any other day, I would play it cool  
But I can't now 'cause I want you  
See I'm hooked on, how you flex your style  
And I wanna talk for a little while_

_I never really seen your type  
But I must admit that I kinda like  
So maybe if you have the time  
We can talk about you being mine_

Alex was now singing softly to a bright-red Susan Bones, who was hanging on his every word, as he held her cheek with one hand for a moment, before moving along.

_Sweet lady, would you be my  
Sweet love for a lifetime?  
I'll be there when you need me  
Just call and receive me_

_Sweet lady, would you be my  
Sweet love for a lifetime?  
I'll be there when you need me  
Just call and receive me_

Now, he was standing behind Cara Harpole, a Hugglepuff sixth-year, who looked as if she was ready to melt into a pleased little puddle as she leaned back towards him, annoying her seventh-year Ravenclaw date, Andrew Jones, quite a bit. Andrew had a reputation as a lady-killer, and the idea of a fourteen-year old coming along and stealing his thunder didn't sit well with him.

_Now on the regular, I would waste time but I don't want to  
'Cause you're so damn fine  
And I heard that you were taken  
That don't have to stop you from making_

_Late night floo calls on the fireplace  
About your fantasies and how to get it on  
When you need me I will be  
There for you my sweet lady_

Now, he was sitting between Tracy and Daphne, continuing his song for a few moments, before moving on.

_Sweet lady, would you be my  
Sweet love for a lifetime?  
I'll be there when you need me  
Just call and receive me_

_Sweet lady, would you be my  
Sweet love for a lifetime?  
I'll be there when you need me  
Just call and receive me_

_Say you will be my baby  
Say you will be my lady  
I've got to have all your love  
So I won't even front  
Just say you'll give it to me  
Don't wanna hear the maybe's  
And I will give you all my heart  
If you say you'll be my baby  
_

Now, Alex was next to Luna, who just leaned into him. While she personally thought Neville Longbottom was about the sweetest boy she'd ever seen, she'd admit that her new friend Alex was a close second.

_Sweet lady, would you be my  
Sweet love for a lifetime?  
I'll be there when you need me  
Just call and receive me_

_Sweet lady, would you be my  
Sweet love for a lifetime?  
I'll be there when you need me  
Just call and receive me_

_Sweet lady, would you be my  
Sweet love for a lifetime?  
I'll be there when you need me  
Just call and receive me_

_Sweet lady, would you be my  
Be my sweet love, lover for a lifetime  
I'll be there when you need me  
Just call and receive me_

_Sweet lady, would you be my? (Sweet Lady?)  
Sweet lady, would you be my? (Sweet Lady?)  
Sweet lady…._

Everyone in the room applauded for the duo as they finished, and started packing up for the night. As students started to leave, Ramses pointed to a hat that was next to the door and held up a sign saying '**Donations are appreciated! Thanks for coming!**' Most students dropped off a few knuts or sickles as they left. Soon most of the couples had left, leaving Alex in a room full of single girls, or girls who were with their friends.

One sixth year started the interrogation. "Alex, a lot of people have been wondering…what kind of things do you like about a witch? Inquiring minds want to know."

Alex thought about it for a few moments. "Well, I'm still working on figuring that out. What 'inquiring minds' want to know, and why?"

"Because one of my friends was wondering if you were single, or if you had a girlfriend back in America. Of course, some people think you and Lovegood are a couple." The girl was tempted to call Luna 'Looney,' but from what she figured, even if he wasn't dating her, Luna was at least a friend and he probably wouldn't take well to someone insulting her.

"No girlfriend, I'm single currently. I'm figuring on just checking out who's available, and going from there. I really haven't had much time for dating between classes and training." Alex replied diplomatically. Several girls exchanged looks with one another, planning on how they would get Alex to take _them_ to Hogsmeade weekend. The boys, on the other hand were starting to see Alex as a potential threat for stealing all their girls. So they started making their own plans to get him hooked up with someone so he wouldn't consider **their** girlfriends date material. While the other students were talking, Alex and Ramses had finished packing up and slipped out, to count their loot for the night.

As everyone was leaving, Tracey walked over to Alex in the hallway. With a slight bit of pink of her cheeks, she started talking.

"Alex, this weekend is the first Hogsmeade visit. I don't think you've been there before, right?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah, this will be my first trip there. I'm probably spend most of it walking around, trying to get familiar with it." He looked at Tracey more closely, and continued, "I was wondering if you'd be interested in giving me a tour?"

Tracey turned pinker, as she quickly replied, "Yes, I'd love to! I'm sure you'll have a great time."

Alex smiled flirtatiously, as he replied, "I'm sure I will. I'm always willing to make new friends, especially when they happen to be pretty girls like yourself."

After they planned what time they were going to meet and the other details, both students went to their dorms and to bed.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry Potter & the Dragon-Lord of Atlantis

A fanfic by Alexander Funryuu

Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter. Any songs mentioned belong to their owners.

_'Thoughts'_

Signs

_TITLES_

(_Common Atlantian_)

**(High Atlantian)**

**Chapter 5**

As time went on, Harry still had no idea about what the first task was going to be, and all the research Hermione and Alex did in the library hadn't revealed anything so far. But on the upside, Harry was starting to see results from the physical training Alex was putting him through. To make things worse, Rita Skeeter had written another article that had nothing like what little Harry had said to the reporter in it. The end result was more mockery from the Slytherins for Harry and Hermione. Harry still hadn't made up with Ron at Hermone's suggestion, even though he missed his first male friend greatly. With Hermione and Alex as friends, he was spending a lot of time in the library, or out going through exercises. (Although he was figuring his slowly-improving body would help him catch a few girls.)

On the Saturday before the First Task, Harry and Hermione decided to go to Hogsmeade to get away from the stress that they were going through. Alex also showed up, in the company of Tracey Davis. Harry and Hermione happened to see Alex and Tracey walked in their direction. Harry was hiding out under his Invisibility Cloak, in order to avoid being annoyed by the likes of Rita Skeeter again, or other pests.

"Hey Hermione, how's it going?" Alex asked as he and Tracey walked up to her. "Have you seen Harry? I've got a bit of news he'll be interested in." Alex gave her a meaningful look.

Hermione grinned, having figured out that Alex must have some idea about the First Task. She was about to say something but realized Harry was still wearing his cloak. "When I see him, I'll be sure to let him know to find you." Harry grinned at this, it seemed that Alex had come through for him.

"Well Hermione, I've got a date for today, so I'll catch up with you later," Alex said as he and Tracey walked off so Tracey could give Alex a tour of the Wizarding Village, since he had never been there before. Hermione and Harry decided to walk around a bit and chat for a bit, before going to the Three Broomsticks. Once they arrived there, Hermione went to get herself and Harry butterbeers. When she came back, she slipped Harry his under his Cloak. As he sipped his butterbeer, he looked around at the other kids, laughing and joking and generally enjoying their day. Hermione had pulled out her notebook, and was going over some ideas for S.P.E.W.

After everyone came back to the castle, Harry and Hermione went looking for Alex, and found him waiting near the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. As they approached, Alex led them to an unused classroom so they could talk.

"Well Alex, what have you found out?" Harry asked.

"The first event is going to involve dragons, you're going to have to retrieve something from them. What that is, I haven't found out yet."

"How did you find out what the event was?" Hermione asked, curious as to how he managed to get the information. In response, Alex raised an arm, and after a moment, Ramses flew into the room and landed on the end of it, and walked his way to Alex's shoulder.

"Ramses overheard Mr. Crouch and the Headmasters talking, and he came and told me." Alex replied as he stroked Ramses' head, eliciting a pleased purr from his familiar.

Suddenly, the task itself sunk into Harry's mind, and he paled slightly. "WHAT?!? A Dragon? How the bloody hell am I supposed to beat a dragon?!?"

Harry paced the room, thinking rapidly, while Hermione fretted in worry. "They're trying to get Harry killed! He doesn't know any spells to go fighting a dragon with, and dragon are resistant to most spells anyway!"

Alex shrugged. "At the moment, I'm not sure. But you don't have to necessarily have to **fight** the dragon, remember? You just need to evade it long enough to grab whatever it is you'll have to retrieve, and then outrun it."

Harry and Hermione both stopped for a second and noticed how calmly Alex was taking the news. "How can you be so calm about this?! Harry could get seriously hurt or killed!"

"I found out earlier than you did, so I've had more time to deal with it. Besides, my dad always says that panicking is a sure-fire way to get yourself screwed. We have to think of a plan to get him through this safely, and you can't do that if you're spazing out." Alex looked at Harry. "You need a plan that plays to your strengths. What are you good at?"

Harry had to think for a moment. "Well, I can fly really well, but we're only allowed to take our wands into the events with us."

Hermione thought about it, before saying, "Then don't take anything but your wand. You can summon your broom to yourself and get it that way!" she was now smiling. "I'm go get a book on the Summoning charm so you can practice!" She quickly suited action to words, and headed off to the library.

"I think I know a spell that will give you a little extra insurance, but I need to go research it, and transcribe it to parchment. Either Ramses of I will find you tomorrow after breakfast, Harry. But right now, I have to go meet with Professor Fitwick for practice. Until then." Alex then headed off to handle his own business.

Later that night, Harry made contact with Sirius, who warned him about the Headmaster of Durmstrang being a former Death Eater. They started to discuss the tournament and ways to get past the dragon, but had to get off the floo when Harry heard someone approaching. It turned out to be Ron, who was still mad at Harry for supposedly entering the Tournament. After a brief argument, both Ron went to bed, while Harry received a message that Hagrid wanted to see him. Hagrid ended up taking Harry into the Forbidden Forest, where several dragon handlers were working with four dragons, confirming Alex's information. Harry then headed off to get some sleep of his own.

The next morning, Harry went down to breakfast, to find both Hermione and Alex waiting for him. After greeting each other and eating, they went outside, where Harry spent most of the morning practicing the Summoning Charm until lunch. After lunch, Alex led the duo a bit further away, so as to not risk anyone seeing what they were up to.

Alex then pulled his wand and said, "Ok, this spell is called Bronze Dragon's Breath, the incantation is _Pyropus Spiritus_. It will make anything that breathes it in run away from you for a few seconds and not want to approach you. Wand movement is like this." Alex did a quick twirl of his wand, before tapping the tip against his own mouth. "I'll demonstrate." Alex then took a deep breath, before letting out a bronze-colored cone of gas from his mouth that extended a good twenty-five feet before dissipating. Several animals which had been in the area, including a wolf, all immediately fled the cloud and kept running. "Good thing about that spell, is that once you cast it, it lasts for a few minutes, so you can fire it off more than once."

Hermione was surprised, she had never heard of a dragon that had a breath weapon other than fire. "I've never heard of a Bronze Dragon. I though all dragons breathed fire, if they had a breath weapon at all!"

Alex shrugged, as a mischievous thought ran across his mind. "Not many people have. But they're as real as a Crumple-Horned Snorlack, just more rare." Hermione frowned. "There's no such thing! Honestly, you're just having me on." Alex replied, "But there's a spell to imitate the breath weapon of a bronze dragon, and you're not having much trouble with that idea." While Hermione stewed over the idea that there were things to learn that couldn't be found in a book, Harry tried the spell for the first time, but missed part of the twirl. So instead of a cone of gas, he got a small puff that barely moved three feet from him. Alex chuckled slightly, before showing Harry the wand motion again, and motioning for him to try again. This time, Harry got it right. But instead of the twenty foot cone that everyone was expecting, Harry's was closer to forty feet. While Alex and Hermione both looked shocked and surprised, respectively, Harry frowned. For some reason, he felt as if his cone should have gone even farther, as if the spell was weak. "Hey Alex, that spell felt kind of weak to me."

"What do you mean by that? You cast it and got more out of it than I did, and I've been using that spell longer than you have!"

Harry frowned. "I know I got the spell right, but it still almost seems as if that was a weak imitation of what my breath weapon should be." While Hermione was trying her hand at the spell, creating a fifteen-foot cone, Alex was looking more closely at Harry. _**'Something's out of place here…what does he mean by a weak imitation of HIS breath weapon?'**_ Alex looked at Harry's eyes, and as he thought about it, he realized that something about that particular shade of green seemed odd. In fact, it was almost…inhuman, from his perspective. "Well, I'll have to do some more research into it, Harry. You just might have an affinity for that spell. Or you're an Animagus with a Bronze dragon as your form, and you're here sandbagging." Harry snickered in response. "If I was any kind of dragon, I doubt I'd be nearly as worried about this event, or this tournament."

Hermione chipped in at this point, "Well, it would be nice. But the only witch or wizard to ever have a magical creature as an Animagus form was Merlin and Morgana Le Fey, and the Founders. The only things the books about Merlin say was that his scales shone like gold in his animagus form." Alex replied, "Then it IS possible, if Merlin did it. It's just a matter of putting in the work to achieve it." Alex knew from his studies that Merlin was born in Atlantis, and that he had been a Golden Flame Dragon. "Heck, I'll manage it before we graduate." Alex had already started towards mastering his Cloud dragon form. Not that he intended to share that information, but it was relevant. Hermione shook her head, and muttered, "Boys and their silly ideas," as she continued to practice the Dragon Breath spell. Soon, the trio headed back towards the castle so Harry could get some sleep in preparation for the First Task in the morning.

That night, Alex found himself in his nightly training sessions in his mindscape with Frostbite, explaining how his day went and Harry's reactions to and the commentary on the Atlantian spell he had taught him. The Ancient dragon merely chuckled at his descendant.

"My dear hatchling, all that does is confirm what you originally said you suspected. He's one of us. Judging from his reaction, I'd say he was a Bronze, possibly a descendant of one of the lords of Cormair."

"Cormair? Who or what is that?"

"Cormair is one of the provinces of Atlantis, and the lord there was one of the previous kings greatest generals. He was also responsible for training the war-wizards and dragons of our army. Keep an eye on young Harry Potter, Alex. Keep training him as well. If he is truly one of us, the more of our type of magic he learns, the more likely it is to awaken the dragon within him." The dragon looked skyward for a moment, before adding, "Continue to teach him and train him. If Harry is to help in restoring Atlantis and fulfilling his destiny, he will need all the help he can get." The two continued to train until late, when Frostbite finally forced Alex to get some sleep.

Monday morning rolled around, and Harry was planning to spend a good deal of the day practicing the Summoning Charm, after his morning training with Alex. After the duo had warmed up, Alex started with a light workout, explaining that he was taking it easy on Harry today, because of the First task being the next morning.

"Don't want you showing up tired or sore, Harry. You'll need to be at the top of your game when you get there. So we'll keep it light and focus mostly of stretching and flexibility., so you'll be at your best. We're only running two miles today, and we'll take it slow. Just want you to have to get a slight burn, versus the normal intense workout you do."

Harry nodded, grateful that he wasn't going to have to go through Alex's normal workout. While he was starting to notice some results thanks to the workouts and some nutrient potions that he had owl-ordered, he was usually sore the next day. _"Merlin, it's like he's channeling a bloody drill sergeant in the mornings.'_

After the morning workout ended for Harry, he went inside to wash up and meet Hermione for breakfast while Alex finished his own workout. As Harry was finishing his breakfast with Hermione, he saw Cedric Diggory leaving the Hugglepuff table. Harry was certain Cedric didn't know about the dragons, and he wouldn't wish dragons on anyone unprepared (except for maybe Malfoy and Snape), so he resolved to do something about it. After telling Hermione that he would meet her in the greenhouses for their first class and that he would catch up, he chased after Cedric, who was standing with a group of his friends. With the clever use of a _Diffindo_ to spill Cedric's bag, he managed to get Cedric alone. Harry walked up as Cedric was picking up one of his books.

"Hi," Cedric said as he picked up his things, "My bag just split…brand new and all…"

"Cedric, the first task is dragons."

"What?!" Cedric said as he looked up at Harry.

"Dragons. They've got four, and we've got to get past them."

Cedric stared at Harry, some of the panic Harry had been feeling since Saturday in Cedric's eyes.

"Harry, are you sure?" Cedric asked in a hushed voice.

"Positive. I've seen them myself." Harry replied.

"How did you find out? We're not supposed to know…"

"Never mind that," Harry said quickly, "but I'm not the only one that knows. Fleur and Krum will know by now too. Maxine and Karkaroff saw them too."

Cedric stood up and looked at Harry, all his things inside of his ripped bag, with a puzzled, suspicious look on his face. "Why are you telling me?"

Harry had a look of disbelief on his face. He figured that if Cedric had seen the dragons, he'd feel the same way Harry did. "It's just…fair, isn't it? All the champions know now, we're on even footing, aren't we?" Cedric was still looking at Harry suspiciously when they heard the clunking sound of Professor Moody walking up.

"Come with me, Potter. Diggory, off you go." he growled.

Harry looked at Moody nervously. Had he overheard them? "Er-- Professor, I'm supposed to be in Herbology--"

"Never mind that, Potter. In my office please…"

Harry followed him wondering what was going to happen now. Would Moody want to know how Harry had found out? Would he go and tell Dumbledore on Hagrid and Alex, or just turn Harry into a ferret? _'Well, if I were a ferret, getting past the dragon might be easier, since seeing something that little from fifty feet would be pretty hard.'_ He followed Moody into his office, and Moody closed the door behind them, before looking at Harry with both his magical eye and his normal one.

"That was a very decent thing you did, Potter," Moody said quietly. Harry was stunned into silence; this wasn't the reaction he was expecting at all. Moody indicated for Harry to sit, and he did. Harry looked around the office at various objects and Dark Detectors, before Moody's next question snapped him back into focus.

"Found out about the dragons, eh?" Before Harry could even begin to make a comment, Moody continued, "It's alright, cheating's a traditional part of the Tournament and always has been."

"I didn't cheat, I found out by accident." Harry said sharply.

"I wasn't accusing you, laddie. I've been telling Dumbledore from the start that Maxine and old Karkaroff won't be as high-minded as he is," Moody said with a grin. "They want to win, and they'll tell their champions whatever they can to help them, so they can beat Dumbledore and prove that he's only human too." Moody laughed again. Then he looked at Harry, his magical eye spinning. "So, got any ideas on how you're going to get past your dragon yet?"

Harry nodded. "I've got a bit of a plan. I just need to fine tune it a bit."

Moody nodded. "Well then, I hope it's good then. Just remember to play to your strengths."

Harry nodded. "Well sir, I need to go and practice, if I'm going to pull this off tomorrow." With that, Moody waved Harry out of the room, so he could go to Herbology.

After meeting up with Hermione, who had the books with the summoning charm, Harry spent most of the day practicing, until almost two in the morning, when Hermione suggested he go to bed, because he'd need the rest.

The next day seemed to pass quickly to Harry, as all too soon, it was time for him to head down for the first task. Hermione whispered "Good luck" to him, and Alex added with a slightly nervous grin, "Put on your game face! It's show time!"

"Yeah," Harry responded to them, as Professor McGonagall led Harry down to the grounds for the First Task. The normally stern professor seemed as anxious as Hermione. She put her hand on his shoulder.

"Now, don't panic, and keep a cool head. There are wizards standing by in case things get out of hand. Just do your best, and no one will think any worse of you." Harry nodded, and the two continued to walk until they reached a tent where the other champions were waiting.

Once inside, Harry saw the other champions, all displaying some nervousness in one form or another, before Ludo Bagman walked in to inform them that they would be drawing model of dragon from a bag to determine which dragon they were going to face. They were also told that the task was to retrieve a golden egg. As the crowds all started to fill the stands, Bagman presented the bag, and everyone drew their dragons. Harry ended up with the Hungarian Horntail, the most powerful dragon of all of them, and he would be going last. Afterwards, Bagman asked Harry to come outside for a moment, where he offered to give Harry some tips to help out. But Harry told the man he already had a plan, and afterwards, re-entered the tent. Soon, Cedric was called out to face his dragon, and he left the tent.

One by one, each champion faced off against their dragon, until it was finally Harry's turn. When he was called out, he walked out into the arena to face off with his dragon.

When Harry entered, the Horntail was at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her eggs, as she stared at him with her evil, yellow eyes and thrashing her spiked tail, leaving gouges in the ground. Harry quickly got started. "_ Pyropus Spiritus!" _was quickly followed by "_Accio Firebolt!_" He focused on the Summoning Charm, and in a few moments, his broom was beside him, waiting for him to mount it. He quickly hopped on and took off, his fear lessening as he flew and got comfortable, as the crowd cheered. _'Now, let's get that egg!'_ Harry turned at dove at the dragon to try to draw it away from its eggs, and got a blast of fire from its breath which he managed to dodge. He tried again to draw the dragon a bit further away, and dodged the flame, but got clipped by the tail.

_Come on, just a bit more room…_ Harry thought as he saw the dragon moving. He dove again at the dragon, and rolled past a jet of flame. Once he was close enough, Harry let loose with his own breath weapon, which caused the dragon to back up. Harry quickly dove down and snatched the golden egg, and took off at high speed with it. The dragon roared angrily as Harry fled the enclosure, and the crowd heard the sound of the chain snapping, as dragon tamers ran out to subdue the Horntail. It took off in pursuit, and Harry had to do some fancy flying to avoid the dragon's flaming breath, although he did get clipped by the tail at one point and almost knocked off his broom. He quickly led the dragon around the castle and back towards the enclosure in a steep dive, with the dragon hot on his tail. At the last possible moment, he pulled out of the dive, causing the dragon to plow into the ground and daze it long enough for the dragon handlers to restrain it as he flew off. Now out of the area, Harry finally noticed the roar of the crowd and Bagman's voice.

" Wow, that the first time I've seen a Wronski feint used against a dragon! And our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorted the odds on Mr. Potter!"

As Harry approached the ground, he saw Hagrid, McGonagall and Moody all hurring to meet him, with smiles evident on their faces.

"That was excellent, Potter!" Professor McGonagall cried as Harry dismounted. "You'll need to go see Madam Pomfrey about that shoulder before you get your score."

"Yeh did it, Harry!" Hagrid said. "An' agains' the Horntail and all, an ye know--"

"Thanks, Hagrid," Harry said loudly, so Hagrid didn't accidentally give away the fact that Harry knew beforehand about the dragons.

"Good job, Potter. Sometimes it's the simple stuff that does the best." Moody commented. "But what was that spell with the cloud of gas that made a dragon back off from you?"

"Oh, I found that spell when I was researching spells that might help me with whatever the First Task was," Harry responded. Madam Pomfrey quickly made her way to Harry and treated his shoulder.

Moody grinned. "Good show, lad. Keep up the good work." As Moody was finishing, Hermione, Ron and Alex had finally made it down to the area. Hermione immediately ran up and nearly tackled Harry to the ground with a crushing hug. Her face had fingernail marks where she had been clutching her face in fear for Harry.

"Harry, you were brilliant! That was amazing!" Alex merely patted Harry on the shoulder and said "Good game, Harry!" with his trademark lazy grin. When Hermione finally let go, Harry noticed Ron, who was white as a sheet.

"Harry," he said very seriously, "whoever put your name in that goblet--I reckon they're trying to do you in!"

"Caught on, have you?" Harry replied coldly. "Took you long enough." Hermione stood between the two of them nervously, looking from one to the other. Alex merely stood back, deciding that he wasn't going to get involved in this. '_How is it that I've known Alex for just a few months and he believed me, but Ron, who's known me for years, didn't?_'

As Harry was thinking, Ron opened his mouth uncertainly to apologize. "Harry, I'm sorry mate. I should have trusted you." Harry smiled at Ron. "It's ok, mate. I'll forget it if you will."

"No," Ron said, "I shouldn't have--"

"_Forget it,_" Harry said.

Ron grinned nervously at him, and Harry grinned back.

Hermione burst into tears, confusing all three boys.

"There's nothing to cry about!" Harry told her, utterly confused.

"You two are so **stupid**!" she shouted, stamping her foot, tears running down her face. Then she hugged both Ron and Harry before either of them could react, then dashed away positively howling.

Ron looked at the path Hermione had taken, then at Alex and Harry. "What was all that about?"

Both Harry and Alex shrugged, as they were as confused as Ron was. "No idea whatsoever." Alex commented. "Girls are strange, no matter what country you're in."

"Come on Harry, they'll be putting up your scores…" Ron said as he started to leave the tent. Alex and Harry followed. When the scores went up, Harry was in first place, tied with Krum! Ron scowled and yelled about Karkaroff's low score award, while Alex merely frowned. Afterwards, Ludo Bagman talked to all of the champions in the champions tent where he asked them to assemble, and told them that the clue to their next task was inside the eggs, and that the next task wasn't until February. Harry left and met back up with Ron and Alex, and started to head back to the castle, talking the whole way. Harry wanted to know more about how the other champions had done. As the group walked past a certain group of trees, a witch leapt out behind them. It was Rita Skeeter, who was wearing a acid-green set of robes, her Quick-Quotes quill in her hand.

"Congratulations, Harry!" she said, beaming at him. "I wonder if you can give me a quick word? How you felt about facing the dragon? Where you learned that interesting spell? How you feel _now_, about the fairness of the scoring?"

"Yeah, I'll give you a word. **GOOD-BYE!**" Harry growled out. The three boys headed off back to the castle, with Alex hi-fiving Harry and congratulating Harry on putting Rita in her place.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry Potter & the Dragon-Lord of Atlantis

A fanfic by Alexander Funryuu

Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter. Any songs mentioned belong to their owners.

_'Thoughts'_

Signs

_TITLES_

**Chapter 6**

That night, back in the Gryffindor common room, Harry was with the rest of the Griffyndors, who were having a victory celebration in his honor. As the party continued, someone yelled for Harry to open the golden egg so they could see the clue for the next task. With a grin, Harry did so, only to hear a loud, horrible screeching sound from it that had everyone covering their ears in pain.

"Ahhh, that the bloody hell?"

"What's that racket?"

Harry quickly closed the egg, and the sound stopped. He looked over at Hermione, who shook her head, indicating that she didn't have any ideas about the egg either. Harry made a mental note to see if he could find Alex later, to see if he did any better.

For whatever reason, later on that night a house meeting had been called by Professor McGonagall, for the first time in any Gryffindor's memory. After some discussion by the Gryffindor fourth years, in which Lavender and Parvati admitted to hearing from members of the other houses that similar meetings were also taking place after dinner in the common rooms, the entire group piled into the common room. Harry and Hermione filling up the loveseat in the common room before anyone else could as the Ginny and Neville sat down on the ground in front of them, while Ron was off to the side messing around with the twins.

By the time the entire common room had filled with all of the Gryffindors Professor McGonagall stiffly entered the portrait hole and walked in front of the fire so she could address the entire group. Her lips were drawn into a thin line as she watched Ron and the twins mess around with toy wands but she refrained from reprimanding them instead she began to speak in an authoritative burr, "I am here to announce that there will be a Yule ball held on Christmas night." Several of the girls began to whisper furiously between each other as the boys mostly looked petrified. Ron in particular had turned a color so white that his red hair made him look quite ridiculous when contrasted.

McGonagall continued after the initial outbursts and said, "Fourth years and above are expected to attend, and third years may attend if asked by a fourth year or older. Dress robes are required and a Hogsmeade weekend is being held this coming Saturday to accommodate anyone who hasn't gotten a dress robe or dress gown. I expect all of you to be on your best behavior and to represent Gryffindor house with pride. That is all, but if I could have a word with Mr. Potter in private it would be appreciated."

Harry started to panic, as he realized that he did not know anything about dancing and that he would need to pick up some things. While he was slightly lost in his own mind, he heard McGonagall mention a Hogsmeade weekend to do any additional shopping for the ball, and something about third years being able to attend with an older date. Then she specifically asked for him and he winced wondering what new nonsense he was being singled out for. The common room slowly emptied and Hermione went over to the other side of the room with her book bag in hand to do some homework no doubt.

McGonagall finally pulled Harry into a corner before she said, "First, I'd like to say how proud I was of you for your performance in the first task of the tournament." Harry smiled slightly although he was rather confused by why she had needed him alone to say this until she continued, "As for the matter why I wanted to talk to you in private, Mr. Potter." Harry nodded and she managed a quick twitchy looking smile before she said, "As a champion you are expected to join in the ceremonial first dance of the ball. It will be a simple waltz. Do you have a date in mind yet?"

"Not yet, Professor." Harry replied. Internally, he was beginning to panic. '_I don't know the first thing about dancing! What am I going to do? What girl will want to go with me?'_

Harry didn't know it yet, but between his strong showing in the First Task, and his steadily improving physique thanks to the workouts and training he was getting from Alex, his stock with the girls of Hogwarts had significantly risen.

"I suggest you put some thought into it, Mr. Potter," she replied before leaving.

Ron walked over to Harry as they went up to the boy's dorms and said, "Hey mate, I think we both need to do some thinking about this Ball business. We need to try to get the prettiest girls we can to go with us."

Harry thought about it and replied, "Sounds like a good idea. But who are we going to ask?" The two boys spent some time discussing who they wanted to ask, before Harry decided to go to bed, so he could get some sleep before his morning training with Alex.

Over in Ravenclaw Tower, Alex was listening to a similar talk from Professor Fitwick about the ball. Once Fitwick was done with his speech, the room broke out with excited chatter among the students. Alex decided that he would deal with it in the morning after his workout with Harry. "I'll be thinking a bit more clearly anyway...it's been a long day."

The next morning, Harry met up with Alex for their morning workout. As the duo started to do their warm-up stretching, Harry asked, "So, who do you think you'll be asking to the ball?" Alex shrugged. "I'm not quite sure yet. What about you, you asking Hermione or are you going to pick a girl from the mob that'll be looking for you starting today?" Harry did a double take at this. "What do you mean by that? I'm not that popular."

Alex snorted. "I suggest you get a reality check. You just got the high score on the First Task, and with the workouts and the diet from me, you don't have the 'starved prisoner' look going any more. I suspect you'll be pretty high on a **lot** of girl's lists. Now come on, we need to get started because I think you're about ready for something new." Once the two boys were done stretching, they took off at a fairly quick pace for their run. As they continued to run, Alex started gradually increasing the speed, and Harry kept up with him easily. _'Hey, this is getting a lot easier. I feel like I can do this all day.'_ Harry thought to himself as they ran. What Harry didn't notice, but Alex had planned for, was that by this point, both boys were running faster than what should be humanly possible. Harry had finally started to unconsciously channel his magic through his body to enhance himself. Anyone who could have seen them would have been stunned into shock at the pace the duo was running at. They were running at about 35 mph!

Alex noted that Harry was keeping up with him, and inwardly smirked. _"My, he's picking this stuff up fast! Pretty soon, he'll be ready for the next step…"_ As the two finished their run for the day and got ready to start sparring, Alex commented "Good run Harry! We finished the lake run in 16 minutes! You're doing pretty well!" Harry's jaw dropped at this, because the run they took around the lake and forest was about 8 miles!

"What the…? How is that possible? I'm pretty sure that's not humanly possible!" Harry said once he got over the shock. "Did you use some new spell that you'll be teaching me?" Harry felt a nice tingle all over his body, as he had just been getting into his groove and he wasn't really tired.

"Nope, that was all you, Harry. Notice that tingly, slightly painful feeling you have? That's because you've started to channel your magic through your body to enhance yourself. I must say though, you've got to have a MASSIVE core though. I was still getting tired at this stage when I first learned this." Alex paused, and feeling suspicious, threw by a few privacy wards. "The next important factor to being a powerful wizard or witch is having wide magical channels properly developed in your body. The larger the quantity and the wider the channels, the more power that could be delivered to the wand arm.

As I discovered through experimentation, through extensive meditation and internal restructuring, a magical being can increase the size and amount of magical channels. In fact with enough magical channels one could create a new form of magic I call Force magic. At this stage, the persons' magic could be sent out to the surface of a person and enable incredible feats of muscle manipulation. One could become very strong and fast, like the Jedi in the stories. It's a long and painful process. But once the channels were widened, the amount of power accessible will grow exponentially. Roughly 30 minutes twice per day should be devoted to this exercise, I think."

Harry's eyes bugged out of his head at this point. "That sounds pretty crazy…how come no one's ever heard of this?" Alex snorted. "I just said I came up with this idea and have been testing it over the years. I haven't published it yet, and I'm sure if I ever will. I may just add it to my personal grimore." Alex gave Harry a serious look. "If you're interesting in learning this I can teach you…but you'll have to take a magical oath not to teach it to anyone without my permission. I don't want anyone that might potentially misuse what I teach to learn this stuff."

Harry thought about it for a few moments, before agreeing and giving his oath. Afterwards, Harry had a thought, and asked, "By the way, why are you teaching me all this, if you're trying to keep stuff secret?"

"Two reasons. One, I had a good feeling about you and consider you a friend. Second, when you not only survive this thing, but win it, just think about what that will prove about my training methods and research!" Alex then went into his 'lecture mode.'

"One has to use their raw core energy and slowly force it through their existing channels. You have to picture a powerful river cutting through the land and emulate it internally. The more energy you force fed to the channel the more it would grow until the individual felt no more pain in creating the channel. At that point the channel would be in equilibrium and at its maximum width and power flow. Creating new channels was the same process. You had to picture where you wanted a new channel and force the core energy to flow to your intended destination. You could create channels to your brain, anywhere in the body or to the surface of the skin."

Harry had every intention of force-feeding the energy until he could master Force magic. He now wanted to master Force magic more than ever. If he could mix this type of magic with the martial arts he was learning from Alex, then he would gain an incredible advantage in the Tournament, as well as for the next time things went sour.

Alex then opened the case with the training dummies and set up the dummies for Harry and himself. "Now Harry, concentrate on that tingly feeling you have. That's your magic. Relax for a moment and connect with your core. Let me know when you can feel your magic." After several moments, Harry nodded, as his skin began to glow slightly. "Good! Now we'll start working on your channeling. Mastering this will help you expand your core, and let you do things like this, for starters." Alex motioned with a hand, and several large stones started to float in mid-air.

"You can use wandless, wordless magic?" Harry exclaimed. "I thought only really powerful and experienced wizards could do wandless magic." Alex snorted in disgust. "Been doing stuff like this since I was six, and could do it pretty much at will by seven…and I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this particular skill of mine. I'd keep it to myself if I were you too…the less the competition knows about what you can do, the better your chances are of coming out on top."

Harry looked at Alex oddly for a moment. "They have kids in America practicing magic that young? I'm surprised that you don't have a country of Merlin level wizards." Alex shook his head. "No, most kids in America don't start until they're ten. I learned most of what I do of magic before I started at the Salem Academy."

Harry then continued, "So how did you figure this out?"

Alex had a sheepish look on his face as he answered. "When I did accidental magic for the first time, I had just seen _Star Wars_. I thought it would be cool if I could do some of that stuff and I tried it and made a handful of rocks float. Once I knew that worked, I asked my parents to take me to the library so I could start looking for books on Jedi techniques. They thought I was joking, so they got me a few _Star Wars _role-playing books and a good deal of the series books. I had to work it out by trial and error. Made a heck of a shock for Professor Xavier when he came to explain magic to me and my parents, especially since I thought he was a real Jedi with the robes and all. He was my Charms professor." he finished with a slightly embarrassed grin.

Harry snickered at this. "So you got your lessons from Luke Skywalker and Yoda, eh? Should I be referring to you as my Master?" In response, Alex waved a hand lazily at Harry, and Harry found himself floating off the ground. "It's not nice to mock the teacher, young Padawan. Besides, it worked, didn't it?" Harry was forced to concede the point, and Alex let him down. "Now, get to your own meditation, and then sparring before we go in to breakfast." The two boys then got into their individual exercises and after roughly another hour, headed in to breakfast as the other students began to get up.

After they had both showered, Harry walked downstairs from the dorms to the exit of the tower, just in time to meet up with Hermione and Ron and go to breakfast. Hermione took a moment to look Harry over unconsciously. _'Whatever Alex has Harry doing, the results are looking very nice!'_ she thought to herself as she noticed Harry's improved physique.

"Harry, how is your training going? Is Alex teaching you anything useful?" Hermione asked as the trio headed to the Great Hall. Harry nodded in response. "Yeah, he's teaching me mostly physical skills to get me in shape. I feel better than ever, and my magic is getting stronger as well! For him to be our age, he knows a lot."

Hermione perked up at this. "Really? If he's that good, do you think you could teach me what he's showing you?" She looked eager to learn something new.

Harry shrugged. "Sorry, but he made me swear an oath not to teach anyone else what he's showing me without his permission. You'll have to talk to him yourself. But I can tell you you'll have to do the workouts with him in the mornings as well."

Hermione frowned slightly at this. She never was a big fan of physical education in school, but she had seen a few of Alex's spars with Fitwick, and couldn't deny that Alex was skilled. "I think I might talk with him about it. Do you know a good time to catch him?" Hermione asked. Harry smiled and replied as the group entered the Great Hall and sat down to breakfast, "I think he'll be in one of the classroom tonight practicing music. You can probably find him there…you'll just have to get to him early or after he's done."

Hermione nodded. "Right…wherever he's practicing has become sort of a date spot in the castle from what I hear. He and his familiar are pretty good from what I've heard from Lavender and Parvati. They can play a lot of different instruments, and he supposedly can sing well too."

After they had eaten, the three got up and headed to classes. While he walked, Harry noticed that several girls were looking him over and smiling or winking at him as he walked by, more than a few with hungry looks. Harry was slightly surprised by this. "Well…maybe Alex was onto something…." He thought as he went through his day.

After another day of classes and dinner, Harry and Hermione were walking around the castle, looking for Alex. As they walked through the castle, they noticed several students from all three schools, usually in small groups or couples, all heading in the same general direction.

Hermione asked a group of girls who were walking by where they were going. One of the girls turned to look at her, with a slightly puzzled expression.

"Oh, we're going to one of the classrooms where that American transfer student is practicing music tonight. I thought everyone knew about the little concerts he puts on…it's turned into a bit of a hangout spot." With that said, the girl turned to catch up with her friends, and Harry and Hermione followed them to a classroom, where they heard soft music flowing from. As they entered, they saw students sitting all around the room, which seemed to have been expanded to hold the large group of students present. At the front of the room, they saw Alex and Ramses. Ramses was gently tapping a set of bongo drums with his front claws, while Alex played a guitar softly, before he began to sing.

_Girl I want to be alone with you  
Just To See what you can do  
Ohh you're dancing all over me  
Baby this is like some kind of fantasy  
The way you move your teasing girl  
So tonight I want you in my world_

As Alex sang, Harry noticed a few girls dancing along to the music, and Parvati and Pamda Patil in particular.

_There you go again girl on my mind  
See you in my dreams all the time  
Oh baby girl you're so fine  
Standing in front of me_

The boy was mesmerized by their dancing, and Parvati noticed Harry's gaze as she wound her hips. She smiled and winked at him with a hungry look, and he blushed a bright red in response.

_Now will you wind for me  
Slow wind for me  
Will you wind for me  
Slow wind for me  
Will you wind for me  
Slow wind for me  
Will you wind for me  
Slow wind for me_

Hermione frowned slightly at the display when she noticed Harry's distraction, as well as Professor Sinastra, the young Astronomy professor, dancing as well. Then she had to stifle giggles at Harry's reaction to Parvati's flirting. Alex would have laughed to, if he had not been singing. As it was, he noticed that he had a few hungry gazes directed his way as well. He decided to up the ante he directed a gaze of his own into the audience.

_Girl, the time has come  
To show and prove  
I've seen enough I wanna feel the truth  
Put your voodo on me babe  
Kiss my lips  
And curse me babe  
Show me how you do your magic babe  
Lead me to your secret jungle babe_

_There you go again girl on my mind  
See you in my dreams all the time  
Oh baby girl you're so fine  
Standing in front of me_

_Now will you wind for me  
Slow wind for me  
Will you wind for me  
Slow wind for me  
Will you wind for me  
Slow wind for me  
Will you wind for me  
Slow wind for me_

_You're a British queen, oh yeah  
I'm an American king, girl_

_You're a British queen, oh yeah  
I'm an American king, girl_

_You're a British queen, oh yeah  
I'm an American king, girl_

_You're a British queen, oh yeah  
I'm an American king, girl_

As Alex wound down his song, several people stood and applauded. He motioned that he was taking a break, as he noticed Harry and Hermione trying to get his attention. He walked outside for a moment, motioning for the pair to follow. "What can I help you two with?"

Hermione asked, "Well, Harry has told me a little bit about your training, and I want to know what it is you're teaching, and perhaps join you."

Alex, who had been silently joined by Ramses, looked over at Hermione with his familiar. The girl in question fidgeted uncomfortably, as the duo seemed to be looking into her very soul. Finally, Alex nodded as his familiar gave an approving-sounding purr. "If Harry's vouching for you, you can come along." Hermione grinned as she first heard the acceptance of teaching her, before Alex continued, "Make sure you wear something you're comfortable working out in…I'll have to see what kind of shape you're in to see what I'll be able to teach you." Hermione looked slightly put out at this, because she didn't like the idea of hard workouts. "What does working out have to do with the magic you're teaching Harry?"

Alex replied, "Because if you do your research, you'll find that the stronger & healthier your body is, the stronger your magic will be. There is a direct link. Harry's magic is well above average, so as soon as I get his body caught up with it, he'll be able to pull off some amazing stuff….which means he'll be more likely to win this thing."

Hermione looked surprised at Alex's declaration. "You're expecting to teach Harry enough to win? You haven't been doing magic any longer than we have! Do they start school earlier in America?"

Alex smirked. "Yes, we do. I started at magical-preschool when I was ten. Besides, I believe anything I do, I better do **RIGHT.** You check on my rep back home, **I DON'T DO second best.**" Alex turned back towards where he had an audience waiting for him. "Harry will give you the details…I'll see you in the morning." With that, Alex went back inside and soon music could be heard coming from the room again.


End file.
